


The Enhanced

by writingsstrange



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Future Relationships, M/M, PowersAU, Slow Burn, Some comedic duos, They have superpowers, Thomas and Newt - Freeform, WICKED | WCKD Is Not Good, more characters will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2020-07-23 00:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 53,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20001214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingsstrange/pseuds/writingsstrange
Summary: Thomas wakes up in a lab with no memory of how he got there. He finds himself surrounded by boys with strange abilities and powers. Suspicions soon grow as Thomas realises this lab is not what they all thought it was and these abilities may have a sinister beginning. What are these abilities? Will they all escape the lab? and can Thomas keep his new friends abilities in check? With the help of Newt, Minho and unfortunately Gally Thomas hopes they will survive not only the lab but the mysterious outside world and all its creatures. (Eventual relationships)





	1. Waking up

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This is my first story and I hope you enjoy it, I have so many ideas for the plot and the world that I'd love to share. This story will follow Thomas and his experience so you will learn more about the lab and the characters as he does.

“Trial 4...patient unresponsive...treatment...check...vitals” 

A soft voice faded in and out of the silence. Bright lights began to burn into his eyes as Thomas slowly opened them. He quickly registered pain, a burning pain, which spread throughout his body as if fire were trapped underneath his skin. He looked around at a colourless world, one which he did not recognise. There was a face hovering above him though he could not work out who’s. 

“This is not an easy process” The face whispered. 

This only added to Thomas’s confusion as he tried to scan the room, he saw a blur of people none of whom he could recognise. Where was he? Thomas let out a groan of pain and clenched his fists as he tried to move, he found he couldn’t as something pulled on his arms and legs pinning him down. 

“Prepare for another trial”

Thomas tried to see where that harsher voice had come from, a tall dark figure approached where he lay. Thomas could not bring his eyes to focus on their face. Suddenly Thomas felt a sharp sting in his arm, a sting that continued to grow and burn slithering along his veins until he could no longer hold back his cries of pain. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll soon have what we need” The harsh voice was the last thing Thomas heard before his mind was dragged back into the darkness. 

When Thomas woke he felt nothing. He opened his eyes, feeling dazed and confused all he could remember was pain, he couldn’t recall what had happened or where he was. He looked around and found himself lying on an uncomfortable bed. He sat up and surveyed this new environment, he was in a small dark room, barely bigger than a prison cell, with grey walls and a grey floor. The only light in the room came from a dim light attached to the ceiling, it did little to chase away the dark shadows that filled the corners. The bed he was on was metal with a thin white mattress. The only colour in the room came from the large metal door, it was painted blood red. The rest of the room seemed to be empty.

Thomas slowly stood up, looking down as he heard a gentle thud. He noticed the noise came from the thick black boots he didn’t remember putting on. He also wore black combat trousers and a long-sleeved grey shirt, none of which he recognised. He tried to cast his memory back, to try to figure out where he was or why he was there. It was at the moment he realised that there was something very wrong. He didn’t remember anything. Well, not exactly. He remembered his name, the way everything seemed to work, how to stand and walk. However, he could not remember where he came from, who he was, who his family was, did he even have any? Fear gripped at his heart as desperately tried to remember but nothing seemed to be coming back. 

Thomas stumbled forwards, his feet on auto-pilot as they headed towards the red door. He needed answers that this room did not hold. He had so many questions that his head began to hurt. He stopped, leaning heavily against the door, he gripped the handle trying to prepare himself for whatever he might find on the other side. He took a deep breath and tugged sharply on the door, it screeched in protest as it swung open. 

Light once again blinded Thomas and he took a fearful step back trying to work out where he was. He saw a large circular room, with a ceiling that stretched upwards for what seemed like miles. The lack of colour seemed to be a theme in this place as the walls and the floor were all pristine and white. Thomas looked up and saw what looked like a glass ceiling he saw a blue sky on the outside of it, it seemed to far out of reach. Surrounding Thomas along the white walls were multiple red doors similar to the one he had just walked out of. There had to be at least thirty stretching all the way around the circular room. Thomas looked ahead of him and saw the space in the middle was taken up by a large thin black wall that was just a few meters taller than he was, water was running down it in a constant flow, the sound would have been calming under different circumstances. On the wall was written one word in white pain which glowed underneath the steady flow. W.C.K.D. 

“It’s all a bit daunting at first, isn't it?” A rough voice spoke.

Thomas flinched (although he would never admit it) and turned quickly to find the source. It was a boy who seemed to be a similar age to himself, (what was his age anyway?) he had dark skin and dark piercing eyes which would have seemed intimidating if it wasn’t for the friendly tone the stranger had used. He seemed to be wearing similar clothes to Thomas though his shirt was a darker shade of grey and the sleeves seemed to have been cut off. 

“What?” Was all Thomas could muster, confusion still heavily weighing on his mind. 

“Waking up for the first time, all us enhanced have been there, the names Alby” 

Enhanced there was that word again, more questions flooded his mind as Thomas just stared down at the hand that this guy, now Alby, was holding out.

“You alright there greenie?” Alby asked frowning at Thomas as if he was the one acting strangely. 

“Greenie? What? Where am I? Why am I here? What do you mean by enhanced?” Thomas questioned his frown now matching Albys. 

“Slow down, just relax everything will be explained when you are ready to hear it” 

All of a sudden Thomas’s racing heart began to slow down and his panicked thoughts came to a halt. It was like a drug was taking control of his mind, he no longer felt scared and confused just a sense of calm. Thomas frowned, this was wrong, these were not his emotions he was scared...wasn’t he?

“There now you’re calm we can talk properly” Alby nodded in approval.

“What just happened to me?” Thomas gasped.

“No more questions, not yet, come on you need to meet the others” 

Alby began walking away, toward the monument that stood in the middle of the room. Thomas followed quickly his mind still at battle with itself, he felt relaxed and he knew it wasn’t because he actually was relaxed this was something different, something was wrong here. He broke out of his thoughts as Alby went behind the water monument and knelt down. Thomas had to bite his lip to avoid asking questions, he knew they wouldn’t be answered anyway. Alby pulled on a black handle that stuck out of the ground and pulled a portion of the floor up, it was a hatch with a ladder leading down. Alby turned his eyes to Thomas and raised his eyebrows, waiting. Thomas sighed and slowly approached the ladder. He gave one last longing glance to the blue sky above before he began his descent, further into the building and further into what felt like a state of madness.

Once Thomas reached the bottom of the ladder it seemed he had also reached the limit of his patience. He stepped back and waited for exactly three seconds before the questions began again. 

“Why are we underground? Is this some kind of secret base?” 

Alby sighed still facing the ladder as he finished his own descent, Thomas couldn’t see his face but he imagined an inpatient look on it. 

“What did I say about questions?” Alby asked finally turning to face Thomas.

Thomas opened his mouth to reply but quickly shut it when Albys gaze sharpened, he realised he probably should remain on the good side of what seemed to be the only other person in this place. Thomas instead looked around curiously, ahead of him was a long thin corridor, with bright white lights lining the ceiling, it went on for a few meters before it split into three.

“Come on, I don’t want to spend my entire day showing you around” 

Alby began walking down the corridor and Thomas followed, they turned left and Thomas almost stopped dead. The corridor they turned into was identical and once again split off into three. Thomas quickly realised that he was in a maze, with so many twists and turns that he felt he’d never find his way back out. He followed Alby closely, trying to memorise the route. 

They continued walking through was felt like the same thin corridor over and over again until finally they reached a door. It was a large metal door silver rather than red this time. Alby pushed it open with a grunt, the door seemed heavy and thick like it was trapping whatever was on the other side. Once the door was open Alby stepped aside and allowed Thomas a look into the room. He frowned. The room was large and square and filled with grey circular tables with roughly six seats to each. The walls were plain and windowless making Thomas feel even more trapped. In the far left corner was a spiral staircase which led up to a balcony overlooking the centre of the room, Thomas couldn’t see how far back the balcony went or where it led as it was covered in shadows. Looking back down he looked towards the right of the room where another large silver door was propped open, it seemed to lead to a kitchen from what Thomas could see. There was another door, this time closed, a bit closer to Thomas and he couldn’t help but wonder what was behind it. None of this seemed too out of the ordinary to Thomas however, what was strange was the fact that dozens of other people filled the room. All young boys. Many of them were sitting around the tables, those who weren’t were mulling around the room seeming to have nowhere to go. The boys were laughing and chatting like everything was fine, like they weren’t trapped underground in this strange facility. They fascinated Thomas.

Thomas stepped forward into the room as looked around in shock and confusion, two emotions he was getting a little too familiar with. He felt Alby stand beside him. 

“These are the Enhanced” He spread his arms gesturing the boys.

“Who? Look you need to start answering some of my questions now!” Thomas snapped becoming frustrated.

“Alright relax greenie, come get some water and take a seat then I will tell you what you want to know” 

Alby began leading Thomas toward the kitchen greeting many of the boys they passed, Thomas averted his gaze toward the ground as he noticed everyone they passed turned to stare directly at him. He was so focused on the ground that he almost walked straight into Alby once they reached the kitchen door. He allowed Alby to step inside and a few seconds later he felt a glass being placed into his hand and he sipped it muttering a thanks. 

“Hey Alby! Who’s this then?” A new voice approached.

Thomas tensed and looked up from his glass, he followed Albys gaze and his eyes landed on a boy approaching them. The first thing Thomas noticed about him was his big brown eyes, they seemed friendly and instantly made Thomas relax. The boy was around the same height as Thomas and had messy blonde hair. His smile also seemed friendly and Thomas couldn’t help but smile back.

“Not sure, he’s more interested in questioning everything than letting me get to know him” Alby joked as the new boy stopped beside them.

“Thomas, my names Thomas” He sighed ignoring Alby for a second.

“Hey Thomas, I’m Newt” The blonde grinned and held out his hand, this time Thomas accepted the handshake. He noticed the boy had a strong accent, different to his own and Albys.

“I haven’t had the chance to explain everything to him yet” Alby admitted.

Thomas looked between the two boys growing more frustrated again, he hated being the only one who didn’t know what was going on. Newt tilted his head and gave Thomas a thoughtful look before returned his gaze to Alby. 

“Probably best you tell him soon, before one of these shucks do” Newt said, glancing around to look at the other boys in the room, there had to be at least thirty. 

“Yes I know, he’s not the first greenie I’ve dealt with. You just go and make sure those shucks don’t make this worse for him” Newt nodded, he flashed Thomas another quick smile before heading back toward the tables.

Alby looked at Thomas before he nodded toward the closest table, it was only occupied by two younger looking boys. Alby began walking over and Thomas followed him. Once they reached the table Alby indicted for Thomas to sit in one of the chairs. Thomas did as he was told and placed his glass down on the table. Alby turned to the other boys. 

“Go and see if any help is needed in the kitchen” Alby ordered.

The two boys immediately nodded and left the area, Thomas frowned it seemed that this group boys listened to Alby and did what he said, maybe he was in charge? Maybe he was the one who put Thomas here?

“Okay no more questions just be quiet and listen” Alby said sharply as he sat on the opposite side of the table.

“So, welcome to the lab.” Alby began.

“We call this whole place the lab anyway, not sure what it’s really called but that doesn’t matter. We are the enhanced, that includes you. You woke up here with no true memories right? That happens to us all, we wake up, we don’t remember and then we come down here” Alby once again gestured to the room around him. 

“Why are you the enhanced? Why am I now part of that?” Thomas couldn’t resist asking.

“I’m getting to that!” Alby answered sharply before continuing.

“Like I said we are known as the enhanced, that's what the doctors call us anyway, we’re different. I don’t know why, no one really does but…” Alby paused.

Thomas frowned and leaned forward in his chair trying to meet Albys eye but the other boy seemed lost in his thoughts, looking directly passed Thomas as he seemed to consider his next words. After a few seconds (that felt like hours to Thomas) Alby returned his gaze and spoke.

“We have abilities” Alby began carefully, though he quickly continued speaking when he saw Thomas open his mouth.

“I don’t know how to explain it but, all of us can do things that the normal can’t...all different things of course. You should also have abilities that's why you’re stuck in here with us”

Thomas’s mind swirled with questions and the answers Alby was giving, they seemed wrong. Abilities? All the boys seemed very normal just as Thomas felt very normal. 

“What kind of abilities?” Thomas asked anyway, deciding to go along with this for now, until he could get real answers.

“It’s different for everyone, we all woke up here and it took a few days for them to show again but we all discovered our abilities” Thomas gave an unimpressed look at the lack of an answer.

“Show again?” Thomas asked.

“The doctors said they gave us all some kind of drug when we first arrived, something to help keep our abilities dormant for our first few days it's too help us adjust without them. Then they come back to us when it wears off” Alby explained and Thomas just frowned.

“Okay look I can see you don’t believe me so just hold on a second” Alby leaned closer to Thomas.

All of sudden. Thomas felt wrong again his emotions began to change his frustration began melting away and he felt...happy? No that couldn’t be right he was angry, confused, annoyed but not happy and yet Thomas just felt happiness flood into his body it was the same feeling of being drugged that he had felt before. He gasped and got out of his chair stumbling back away from Alby.

“What’s happening?” Thomas asked, his head beginning to hurt from the mixture of emotions and his swirling thoughts. 

Alby stood up and held out his hands, he moved slowly as if approaching a wounded animal. Thomas just took another step back barely hearing anything over the sound of his own thoughts.

“Thomas, it’s okay sit down” Alby said gently.

“No! Tell me what is wrong with me!” Thomas snapped a feeling of panic taking over.

“There is nothing wrong with you it was me! I did that! I made you feel happiness just like I made you relax earlier!” Alby said quickly.

Thomas stopped moving back and froze, staring in disbelief he thought back to earlier and how wrong he had felt then too. He was speechless.

“I have something called advanced empathy! It’s my ability! I can sense and alter other people's emotions!”

Thomas slowly sank to the ground as he processed what Alby was saying. He was right those emotions were not his they were something Alby had done to him, but how? That was…

“Impossible” Thomas whispered.

“We’re called the enhanced for a reason man” Alby said crouching down, he made sure to keep a slight distance between them.

“We all have these abilities, something about us that isn’t normal, that can’t be properly explained. We can do things that the normal can’t. That is why we’re here. That is why you’re here”

Thomas looked up sharply and met Albys eyes, he seemed genuine, Thomas then looked around at all the other boys in the room none of them seemed to be looking over as if Thomas freaking out was normal and to be expected. Maybe it was. But none of them looked enhanced they weren’t behaving differently. Then again until a few seconds ago neither was Alby. Thomas looked back at the dark skinned boy. Maybe he could accept that these boys were different but he was sure of one thing: that he wasn’t.

“I don’t have any magical abilities!” Thomas said.

“It’s not magic” Alby sighed shaking his head.

"Look, you may not have rediscovered the ability yet but you will. The doctors wouldn’t have put you here if you didn’t” He continued.

“Who are the doctors?” Thomas asked.

“The people who run this place, we don’t really see them but they’re the ones who found us and put us here”

“What do they want with these so-called abilities?” Thomas asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know, they help us control them I guess and they keep us away from the normal who I’m guessing wouldn’t react well to us” Alby explained.

“Look that's pretty much all I can tell you for now, it’ll take a few days for your ability to make itself known so until then just stay out of trouble. The main things to do around here are sleep, eat and train. Don’t worry about the training until your ability shows okay? Just go with it and you’ll fit in just fine” 

Alby spoke quickly as he stood up looking around the room. He seemed to be done with this conversation but Thomas was far from it. He had a power? Ability what would it be? Would it hurt? Would any of these boys hurt him with theirs? Thomas wanted to voice these questions but Alby was already walking away, he headed over to the spiral staircase and began to climb it. Unfortunately Alby had left Thomas with more questions than answers.


	2. Welcome to the lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas meets more of the enhanced and begins to discover how the lab works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter, we begin to meet some familiar faces and gets hints of abilities.

Thomas was still reeling from his talk with Alby when suddenly felt a powerful force hit his side as he was knocked to the ground. He landed hard and groaned in pain rolling onto his back half expecting to see a car or a train considering the amount of force he’d felt. Instead he saw a tall boy towering over him, he had shorted almost buzzed sandy hair and dark menacing eyebrows which were pulled into a frown. Thomas also noticed he looked strong, really strong, as the muscles in his arms tensed. 

“Hey greenie” The boy smirked down at him.

Thomas huffed at the nickname still not understanding it and quickly getting sick of it, he slowly began to stand up sending a dirty look in the direction of the boy. 

“What's your problem?” He managed to say once he was upright once again.

“Problem? I don’t have a problem, I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be causing us any trouble. It's been a while since the last greenie was sent down here” The boy said crossing his arms and staring Thomas down.

“The only one who seems to be causing trouble is you!” Thomas rolled his eyes he wasn’t about to let himself be intimidated.

“Gally!” A familiar voice snapped.

Thomas turned to see many of the boys watching the confrontation, most of them had even moved closer so they could listen forming a circle around Thomas and this other boy (Now known as Gally). Newt made his way through the crowd with ease as many of the boys seemed to part for him. Newt stopped between Thomas and Gally facing the larger boy.

“Shouldn’t you be training?” Newt simply said, crossing his arms and looking up at Gally.

“I was on my way there, just wanted to say hi to the new greenie” Gally smirked, the anger in his eyes lessening as he looked down at Newt though.

Newt raised his eyebrows and nodded in the direction of the staircase, Thomas looked over and saw above them Alby was leaning on the balcony watching over the situation like a hawk perched in a nest. Gally seemed to back off then, he gave Thomas one last frown before he walked away heading towards Alby. The rest of the boys soon dispersed, seeming almost disappointed that the fight had been halted before it began. Once they were alone again Newt turned back to Thomas and smiled.

“You alright? Gally can be a bit much sometimes”

“He’s an asshole” Thomas muttered rubbing his side where he’d been shoved, there was probably already a bruise.

Newt shrugged at the statement but didn’t deny it, instead he decided to change the subject.

“Alby finally explain this place to you then?” He asked.

“Hardly, I still have so many questions” Thomas said dropping his hand to his side. He studied Newt curiously and couldn’t help but wonder what his ability was.

“I’m sure some of them will be answered soon” Was all Newt said, he didn’t sound very certain.

“Come with me, I’ll introduce you to some people” 

Thomas looked down as Newt grabbed hold of his wrist and gently tugged him in the direction of the tables. Thomas allowed himself to led, deciding that it was probably best he stuck with Newt or at least someone who wouldn’t let Gally attack him again. As the two approached the nearest table Thomas noticed it was occupied by three boys. All three of them looked up as Newt and Thomas stopped by the table and Thomas was grateful when Newt didn’t let go of his wrist straight away, it reassured him that he wasn’t facing these people alone. 

“Hey Newt!” 

Thomas looked for who the voice came from and his eyes landed upon a boy with black hair and small dark eyes, he seemed friendly as he smiled at the two them. Thomas turned his gaze to the other two boys on the table, one boy had blonde hair and light eyes whilst the other boy was dark skinned with dark eyes. Neither seemed hostile towards Thomas which was a relief.

“Hey Minho, Ben, Frypan this is Thomas” Newt introduced the group finally giving Thomas names to faces. 

Minho, who had spoken first, nodded glancing toward Thomas before gesturing to the available seats at the table. Newt finally let go of Thomas’s wrist and sat down beside Minho allowing Thomas to sit beside him.

“Hey greenie how are you finding the place?” Frypans dark eyes met Thomas’s.

“Confusing” Thomas muttered frowning. “Why does everyone keep calling me that?” He added.

“Greenie is just what we call the newest arrival, you’re the first one in a while” Newt explained.

Thomas nodded as if he understood, which he really didn’t, and looked across the room studying everyone else just trying to spot something out of the ordinary, something that would confirm everything that Alby had told him. 

“You should probably eat, get your energy up the first day is always a bit much” Frypan said nodding towards the kitchen. 

“What happens to us? What will I do? Alby mentioned something about training” Thomas asked instead.

“We all have to train, the doctors want us to have full control over our abilities” Ben spoke up for the first time. 

“Why? What happens if you don’t control them?” Thomas frowned, surely they would be able to control a part of themselves?

“It’s dangerous, people get hurt” Newt said quietly looking down towards the table.

Thomas looked around and the table to be greeted with blank faces, the smiles were gone. He desperately wanted to know more but even he knew better than to pry into something like that.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded it was loud but only lasted for a second, a screeching noise that mad Thomas cringe and bring his hands to his ears. No one else seemed affected as they simply stood up and began making their way toward the staircase. Thomas watched as Minho, Frypan and Ben all stood, Ben walking away without so much as glancing at Thomas.

“What's going on?” Thomas asked removing his hands from his ears.

“Training, we have to go.” Minho shrugged.

“You should wait here, eat something, you won’t be expected on your first day” Frypan said before he and Minho also left with a departing smile and wave.

“When will you be back?” 

“Later, I’ll come and find you then I can give you a proper tour and maybe a few more answers” Newt said.

Before Thomas could reply a young boy hurried over to them, he was short with curly hair and sweet chubby cheeks. Thomas watched him curiously, he seemed far too young to be stuck in a place like this. Then again, weren’t they all a bit young?

“Newt come on! We can’t be late!” The young boy said before he looked down at Thomas.

“Oh hey greenie!” Thomas couldn’t help but smile at him.

Newt nodded down at the boy before he turned and walked in the direction everyone else had gone, the young chubby boy followed him and Thomas watched as the room grew more and more empty. 

The silence was deafening. A stark contrast to the buzz of chatter that had filled the room only minutes ago. Thomas sighed and stood up heading towards the kitchen deciding to take Frypans advice. He glanced around the kitchen seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he was almost disappointed with how normal this place was beginning to feel. He didn’t allow that thought to linger though, he needed to be prepared. This place wasn’t normal, it was a prison full of advanced people. It wasn’t safe. 

Taking a calming breath Thomas stepped forward and picked up an apple that was sitting in a bowl on the counter. It was then he remembered his glass of water which he had abandoned during his talk with Alby. Thomas retraced his steps back towards the now empty table he had sat at seeing his glass where he left it. He reached to pick up before suddenly something made him freeze. Vibrations moved across the surface of the water, it was only slight and barely noticeable but the ripples were there. Thomas looked around curiously and listened. He heard something faint. A thudding noise. It was erratic sounding almost panicked. Thomas listened closer trying to locate the noise when the water in the glass rippled again. Thomas slowly watched it before placing his apple down and laying his hand flat against the table on which it sat. Vibrations. With every thud he could feel them. He crouched down staring curiously at the floor. Was it beneath him? How much further down did this place go?

“Lost something?” A voice cut through Thomas’s thoughts.

Thomas jumped up from his crouched position and looked around quickly, he sighed when his eyes landed on the last person he wanted to see. Gally.

“Shouldn’t you be training?” Thomas repeated Newts earlier words looking up at Gally. 

“No, I’m here now” Gally rolls his eyes as he gives his cryptic reply.

Thomas looked around and realised they were the only two people in the room. Strange. Gally was not with the other boys nor did he leave when they did, he’d left earlier. Thomas tried to piece together this information to find a solution but he came up with nothing.

“Why did you go to training before everyone else? Why are you back now?” Thomas asks.

“My training was different today, some days some of us have different sessions” Gally surprisingly explains with little spite in his tone.

“Wh-” Thomas began to question.

“I don’t have anything else to tell you” Gally quickly snapped.

Thomas studied the taller boys face and began to notice he looked different now. He was paler with a gleam of sweat now present on his forehead and along his muscles. The beginning of dark circles now lay under his eyes. Thomas had to admit that he looked ill, he almost began to question it but stopped himself. He highly doubted he would get an answer.

“Come on, we need to go back to our rooms, the doctors don’t like us roaming the place during training hours” Gally said before roughly pushing past Thomas and heading back the way Alby had led him.

Thomas followed and the two boys made their way back along what Thomas had deemed the maze in an uncomfortable silence. Gally marched ahead barely looking back to see if Thomas was following him. Whilst the two walked yet another question entered Thomas’s head. Why could they not be out during training hours?

When they had climbed out of the hatch and finally reached the red doors, Gally headed straight towards a door and without saying a word he entered the room and slammed it shut behind him. Thomas huffed in annoyance realising he couldn’t remember which red door he himself had exited out of earlier. He slowly made his way towards the nearest door and studied it, noticing a black plaque with the name Winston written on it. He quickly realised that must have been the name of one of the boys. With this information Thomas circled the room until he found his own name, he took note of his neighbours. Minho and Clint. 

Thomas hesitantly entered the room, squinting slightly in the darkness he let the door fall shut behind him as he made his way over to the bed. The sound of a lock snapping into place broke the silence and Thomas paused. He turned and quickly tried to open the door again only to find it wouldn’t budge. They must have waited for him to enter before locking it behind him keeping him away from whatever it was they didn’t want the boys seeing. So they were watching him. Thomas sighed and rested his back against the door slowly sliding down until he was seated on the floor. He only had one question running through his mind. Who were they?


	3. Invisibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas learns more as the boys return from training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to Latch_is_what_I_want_to_be_called for leaving Kudos! And thank you everyone who is reading I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.  
> If you have any opinions or ideas for the future of this story please leave them in the comments I am open to incorporating ideas!   
> Now on to chapter 3

It must have been hours later when the sound of a lock clicking caused Thomas to stir. He winced in pain and lifted his head realising he must have fell asleep against the door. He slowly pulled himself up and tried the door again. It opened. Squinting at the bright lights once again Thomas stepped out only to bump straight into someone.

“Sorry!” Thomas quickly said, rubbing his eyes to help them adjust and identify this person.

“Its okay! My fault I could have avoided that” Thomas realised it was Minho who was speaking, he looked up at the boy and noticed he looked exhausted.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah I’m fine” Was all Minho said, sounding a bit breathless.

“Training just takes it out of you, you’ll know all about that soon” He continued in a friendly tone but Thomas couldn’t help but feel fear hearing the last part.

“Come on, we have an hour to eat dinner and do whatever before they lock us back in our rooms, I was actually coming to get you” Minho said.

Thomas once again allowed himself to lead back to the large room with the tables. He felt so lost and so trapped and the worst part was that he knew one day he wouldn’t feel lost. One day he could be leading a new greenie around here himself. He was already memorising a route of the maze. That thought made Thomas feel sick. He didn’t want to stay here.

Thomas was shaken out of his thoughts as the buzz of conversation filled his ears once again, it felt like deja vu. The two made their way over to the kitchen and Thomas was handed a grey bowl with what looked like soup inside. Thomas lifted some out of the bowl with a spoon and immediately noticed the texture was too thick to be soup. 

“What is this?” He asked Minho as he dark haired boy led them over to a table, carrying his own food.

“Not really sure, it's good though” 

Minho shrugged nonchalantly and sat down at the table placing his food in front of him, Thomas took a seat to his right and looked around the faces at the table. He noticed Frypan and the younger curly haired boy were sat opposite him whilst Newt was sitting to his left. They all looked as tired as Minho was.

“Hi! We didn’t get to properly meet earlier” The curly haired boy spoke up, his exhaustion clearly not dampening his mood.

“I’m Thomas” 

“Chuck” The boy replied with a smile before digging into his food.

They all seemed to be eating the same thing Thomas was and none of them seemed suspicious of it. Thomas looked down at his own bowl biting his lip, everyone else seemed to think it's safe despite not knowing what it is.

“It won’t bite” Thomas looked up to see Newt giving him an amused look.

“No, I-I know its just…” Thomas trailed off feeling stupid for being so on edge.

“I understand, but it's safe to eat, I wouldn’t let anyone eat it if it wasn’t” Newt explained in a more understanding tone this time.

Thomas studied him just as he had studied Minho and found the same tired look in Newts eyes. Neither of the boys seemed pale or ill though unlike Gally who Thomas realised he hasn’t seen yet. 

“I hope you didn’t cause too much trouble while we were gone” Frypan teased with a chuckle.

“No, I was locked in my room” Thomas mumbled studying their reactions. No one seemed to think this was strange.

“Yeah that makes sense, no one is allowed to just roam around during those hours” 

“Why?” Thomas couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Not sure, I guess because the doctors are busy helping with the training, they don’t want any trouble to have to deal with” Frypan shrugged before going back to eating his food.

Thomas hesitantly lifted his spoon and inspected the food once more, he sighed realising he's going to need to eat something and this seemed to be the only option. He was about to taste the mixture when a groan to his left caught his attention. The noise seemed to have come from Newt who had his head in his hands when Thomas looks over. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Thomas asked frowning in concern.

“Yeah I’m fine” Newt replied, the same way Minho had done.

Newt looked up again and gave Thomas a tired smile. Thomas continued to frown at him and Newt sighed realising he wasn't going to give up that easily.

“I must have overdone it during training, I usually get headaches when I do that” Newt explained.

Thomas sees Minho nod in understanding and a silent exchange seemed to take place between Minho and Newt. One which Thomas was not supposed to be included in. He looked back down at his spoon as he tried to carefully word his next question.

“So...what do you guys...do in training?” He asked carefully, eating his first mouthful which didn't actually taste bad.

“Its different for all of us, they are like...tasks I guess, designed to test our abilities, the more we complete the more power we have over them” Frypan explained easily, seeming more open about it than anyone else Thomas had encountered.

“You’ll have your own soon! They aren’t too bad just really tiring, they slowly make them more and more difficult” Chuck added on. Thomas took this in whilst he ate his food. 

“What happens once you have full control?” Thomas asked cautiously.

“No one knows, well no one here anyway, there have been people who trained alongside us and progressed quicker than we did then one day just vanished” Minho chipped in.

“I think they let them go back with the normal, they wouldn’t hate us as much if we could control ourselves right?” Chuck said positively. The other boys seemed hesitant to reply.

“The normal? The people back in the real world without powers?” Thomas checked and got an affirmative nod from Chuck.

“I don’t remember what it was like before this, not really, but I remember some things like all the different food, and the feeling of the rain or even snow! And I think I remember feeling happiness” Thomas nodded listening to Chuck excitedly list his memories, or at least what he thought they were.

Thomas smiled sadly seeing Chuck get excited only reminded him of how young he was. The excitable chatter continued as Thomas looked back down towards his food, feeling more at ease about eating it now. He looked back up to continue listening to Chuck and suddenly frowned, seeing an empty seat.

“Hey where did he go?” Thomas asked, he was sure he only looked away for a second.

Thomas began looking around the room for the small boy but didn’t see him, he looked around the table to see if the others were just as confused as he is. Unsurprisingly they weren’t.

“Chuck it happened again” Minho sighed though he looked more amused than angry.

Thomas looked at Minho bewildered as he seemed to be talking to no one. All of a sudden Chuck popped back into view still sat exactly where he was when Thomas looked away. Thomas flinched in shock and dropped his spoon, hearing it clatter onto the table. How? He was just gone! Where did he come from? 

“Oh shuck, sorry” Chuck looked sheepish as he looked around the table, though he didn’t seem as concerned as Thomas thought he should be.

“Invisibility” Newt leant over and said to Thomas.

Thomas met his eyes, processing the word for a second he looked back at Chuck who nodded in agreement with Newt.

“He can disappear and reappear whenever he wants to...in theory” Newt added. 

“Yeah I can’t fully control it yet, I’m still quite new to this” Chuck admitted, the tips of his ears turning pink.

“Its o-okay...sorry it just caught me off guard I’m not used to...all this” Thomas stuttered in reply, calming down slightly.

“It’s still your first day greenie it’s okay to be a little jumpy” Newt said reassuringly.

Thomas nodded quickly though he was barely listening, too lost in his own thoughts. Invisibility? Advanced telepathy? And all the other mysterious abilities these boys had. It shouldn’t be possible and yet Thomas found himself becoming a part of it. He wasn’t sure he was ready for that.


	4. The tour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt gives Thomas a tour which leads to more unanswered questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> We're heading towards more powers and secrets being revealed in the next few chapters!

The rest of dinner passed quite quickly without conversation and soon everyone was getting out of their seats. Thomas followed suit and disposed of his plate in the kitchen before turning back to this new group he’d seemed to have attached himself to.

“What happens now?” He asked curiously. 

“We have about half an hour until lock down, do whatever you want” Minho shrugged scanning the crowd of boys, he seemed to spot whoever he was looking for because he turned back to the group and said:

“See you guys later”

Before he took off. Thomas watched him go curiously and saw him approach someone in the far corner near the entrance. It was Gally. Thomas couldn’t tell whether he seemed any better as he was too far away.

“I can give you a little tour if you’d like?” Thomas turned his attention back to Newt.

“I thought this room was the extent of the tour” Thomas said, following the blonde through the crowd.

“This room is all you need to worry about for now but there are other places around here to check out” Newt explained.

Newt walked towards the spiral staircase and began walking up it, looking back to make sure Thomas was following him, which he was. The two reached the top of the stairs and Thomas looked down over the balcony, it was quite high up and it made his stomach churn when he looked straight down.

Thomas stepped back from the railing and looked around, the balcony stretched completely across the wall but didn’t go very far back. Beyond the railing, in the centre of the wall, were two adjoined glass doors. Printed across the glass in white font was one familiar word. W.C.K.D.

“Beyond those doors is the training areas, different rooms depending on your ability. Don’t worry you’ll be assigned one” Newt explained leaning back against the railing with his arms crossed.

Thomas looked along the walls beside the doors, there were a few bookcases lined up, all devoid of colour as most of the spines were either brown or black. 

“Those books aren’t very interesting” Newt commented and Thomas smirked.

“You’ve actually read them?” He asked raising his eyebrows, Newt scoffed though he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Hey, in case you haven’t noticed there isn’t much to do around here” He defended himself.

Thomas chuckled and shook his head but didn’t argue with that. He turned back to the glass doors looking at the other side. Thomas is disappointed to see just another white corridor with little to no decoration, it goes on for a meter or two before seeming to end.

“It’s just a deadend” Thomas said out loud.

Newt stepped forward and followed Thomas’s line of sight, he shook his head and pointed straight towards the wall at the end of the corridor.

“That wall moves” He began.

“Moves?”

“When it’s time for our training it will slide across and open up” He finished.

“Why would they hide the training room behind a wall like that?” Thomas asked.

“I’m not sure, once I go through there I’m taken straight into my own room, I don’t get to see anything else” Newt said frowning.

Thomas nodded as his suspicion grew, there were too many unanswered questions for his liking. 

“Okay come on, I don’t want to be anywhere near those rooms anymore than I have to be” Newt took off back down the stairs with Thomas in tow. 

This time they headed back towards the entrance door, where Gally and Minho were still having a quiet conversation. Thomas wished he knew what they were saying but he didn’t get the chance to listen as Newt turned to the other closed door in the room instead. He pushed at the door for a few seconds before it slowly began to swing open. 

“This ones pretty heavy, doesn’t get used much” He explained as he steps through the door, Thomas looked in through the doorway.

The room was smaller than any one he’d been in so far (except for his own room of course), it had a white bed in the centre of the room, surrounded by small metal tables. Each table held a variety of medical tools and medicines, things which probably shouldn’t be left out like that in Thomas’s opinion.

“This is like a medical wing, we can patch ourselves up if something goes wrong outside of the training rooms” Newt explained, leaning back against a wall.

“Isn’t it dangerous to leave these things out like this?” Thomas voiced his concern.

“No, they know we can’t do anything that we’re not supposed to with them” Newt shrugged.

“How do they know that?”

“They’re always watching” A shiver ran down Thomas’s spine as he looked around the room.

He walked over to the nearest metal table and examined the things on it, nothing too exciting, some bandages, rubbing alcohol, cotton wool, all the things a basic medical kit would hold. 

“Clint and Jeff usually deal with the medical side of things, they’re good at it” Newt explains watching Thomas look around.

Thomas nodded only recognising one of those names. He continued scanning the room and stopped. He looked up and saw something white hanging off the wall, he slowly made his way over to get a closer look and realised it was a white lab coat. His steps faltered. Something about the coat made him feel uneasy.

'This is not an easy process'

Thomas flinched as the voice appeared in his mind, it sounded familiar. Thomas put out his hand grabbing onto the wall for support as he began to feel dizzy.

“Thomas?” A voice echoed in the distance.

'Prepare for another trial'

Flashes of white entered his mind and a face, a blurry face, who’s face? 

'We’ll soon have what we need' 

Thomas could feel the ghost of burning under his skin, the pain, he remembered the pain and the voices but from where? Thomas groaned leaning more of his weight against the wall unable to focus on anything other than the memories trying to crash through the barrier of amnesia in his mind.

“Thomas?” He heard again but it sounded so far away.

'Patient unresponsive' 

Thomas didn’t feel his hand slip from the wall or see the ground approaching quickly. He felt so dizzy, so tired, he wanted to sleep but he couldn’t! He needed to know where these memories were coming from. Darkness began to seep into his mind and across his vision. Where was he? Who were they? The last thought he heard before he let the darkness consume him wasn’t even his own.

'Begin trial 5'


	5. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas knows what he saw but do the others believe him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! A bit shorter but I hope the next few chapters will make up for that as the story will pick up the pace soon.

“Tommy?”

“....Tommy are you okay?”

“Please be okay! Thomas?”

Thomas slowly blinked his eyes open, the first thing he saw was a bright white ceiling, then two concerned brown eyes staring down at him. Thomas tried to sit up but was held down.

“Hey, Tommy it’s Newt can you hear me?” Thomas tilted his head to get a better view of him, he felt groggy and confused.

“W-What?” He managed.

“Are you okay?” Newt asked quickly.

Thomas gave a weak nod which seemed to convince Newt who sighed in relief. 

Thomas slowly became more aware of his surroundings and realised he was still in the medical room (which seemed quite fitting). He also realised he was lying on the floor with his head resting on Newts lap.

“W-What...happened?” Thomas questioned slowly.

“I’m not sure, you just passed out” Newt explained gently.

Thomas frowned and slowly tried to sit up again, this time Newt helped him up into a sitting position, he turned to face Newt and suddenly realised they weren’t alone. Minho was kneeling down a short distance away, watching him with concerned eyes. Gally was also stood leaning against the door frame frowning down at him. 

“You alright there greenie?” Minho asked.

Thomas just nodded still trying to work the answer out for himself. He cast his mind back trying to remember exactly what had happened, he remembered looking around the room and- oh the coat. Thomas looked up to where it still hung from the wall, it had triggered a memory and quite an unpleasant one at that. Thomas began to stand but quickly lost his balance again, he felt a breeze rush by and suddenly Minho was right beside him holding him up.

“What happened to you?” Minho asked.

Thomas didn’t get a chance to reply before Gally walked over, he reached out and put one hand on Thomas’s arm before yanking him up with such ease that Thomas stumbled slightly once he was upright. Gally immediately let go and took a step back still frowning.

“I remembered something” Thomas mumbled as Newt rose to stand beside him.

“I remembered doctors and a table and pain, I was trapped there” He recalled.

“Doctors? That can’t be right, you only see them if you attend training” Newt explained gently.

“I saw them! I saw those coats” Thomas insisted, he looked between the three boys and saw all of them looking unsure.

“It’s your first day, no one can think straight after waking up” Gally grunted in his usual unfriendly tone, he seemed disinterested but Thomas knew better, he could see the curious look in his eye.

Thomas sat down heavily on the white bed and once again looked between the three boys.

“I was trapped somewhere! They were doing something to me” He insisted. 

Thomas saw Newt bite his lip and look around the room warily seeming a little lost in thought until his eyes landed on the door, he tilted his head watching it for a second. Thomas followed his gaze and remained quiet.

“We shouldn’t be talking about this here” Newt whispered finally looking back at Thomas.

Minho nodded in agreement and crossed his arms in a defensive manner. He opened his mouth to say something before he stopped and seemed to think better of it.

“It’s almost lock down, we haven’t got time for this” Gally huffed, he locked eyes with Newt for a second before looking away.

Newt said nothing in reply, simply walking over to Thomas and laying his hand on his arm. Thomas sighed but stood up with the help of Newt, gaining his balance before beginning to leave the room. By the time all of them had left and Gally had closed the door behind them most of the boys who had been sitting at the tables were gone. Thomas guessed they had returned to their rooms.

“I know what I saw” Thomas muttered one last time, sensing their doubt, before he began walking in the direction of the entrance. 

He heard the others follow but they didn’t attempt to speak to him again, instead the walk back was once again filled with silence. Thomas climbed up the ladder a bit slower than before as his head was still not completely focused on the present, instead he continued to dig hoping to unearth more memories that may have answers.

An alarm blared for three seconds whilst Minho closed the hatch behind them. Thomas flinched and once again covered his ears, still getting used to that.

“That means lockdown is about to start” Newt told him before all four boys made their way towards their individual rooms. Thomas didn’t look back and made a point to slam the red door behind him. He knew he was being a little unreasonable but he was still angry, they didn’t believe him he could tell, he needed proof, he needed more memories.

That anger was the last thing Thomas felt before he drifted off into an uneasy sleep that night.


	6. Telekinesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas can finally confide in someone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter! I also hope my explanation of everyone's abilities are clear throughout this story! If not feel free to point that out and I will try and fix that.  
> More notes at the end

The sound of a lock clicking woke Thomas hours later. He sat up, glancing around the room before his eyes landed on the red door which was slowly being pushed open. Fear gripped Thomas like a vice as he scrambled back against the wall. The door continued to creep open and Thomas squinted against the dark, realising that it must have been late if the bright white lights outside were off.

“Thomas?” A voice whispered, Thomas instantly felt calmer recognising the strong accent.

“Newt?” He asked standing up and making his way over to the doorway.

“Shh!” Newt quickly pushed his way into the room and closed the door behind him slowly and quietly.

“What are you doing? How did you even get in here? The door was locked” Thomas whispered feeling bewildered, not that he wasn’t happy to see the blonde.

Newt ignored him for a moment, pressing his ear against the door trying to listen for something. Thomas crossed his arms and stayed silent waiting for this strange interaction to be explained. After about a minute Newt seemed satisfied and turned to face Thomas, leaning back against the door.

“Hi” He whispered with a sheepish smile.

“Hi?” Thomas replied cautiously.

“Sorry I had to break into your room but this is the only place without cameras and I need to talk to you” Newt explained quickly, barely pausing to breathe.

“Talk to me about what?”

Newt crossed the room and sat on Thomas’s bed, looking at him expectantly. Thomas took the hint and quickly sat down beside him. The pair of them leant back against the wall, Thomas pulling his knees up to his chest, New mirrored his position. They were sat close enough for their knees to touch.

“Earlier, you were talking about remembering the doctors and that they were doing something to you...tell me about that, what happened?” 

Thomas stared at Newt in shock, not expecting that to be the reason his room had been broken into. As far as he was concerned the others hadn’t believed him.

“Why are you asking about that?”

“Please Tommy, this is important” 

Thomas tilted his head curiously at the nickname, remembering Newt calling him that earlier too, and was about to question it when he saw the look in Newts eyes. This was serious, he could feel it, so Thomas took a deep breath before delving back into the memory.

“I’m not sure what happened but...it was that white coat, the one hanging up, I remember seeing people wearing it. I don’t know where I was but those people were doing something to me I remember it hurt.” Thomas clenched his hand into a fist glancing down towards his arm as he remembered the burning.

“Did you hear them say anything? The doctors” Newt prompted gently.

“Yeah...they were talking about trials and getting what they needed” 

Newt bit his lip and glanced towards the door processing what Thomas had told him. Thomas kept quiet hoping Newt could help him figure out what this all meant.

“We’ve been here a long time” Newt muttered, Thomas wasn’t sure why he was being told this but he didn’t interrupt.

“I’m not sure how long, I used to count the days when I first got here but...after awhile I just stopped. I couldn’t handle the idea that I would be counting forever and that single digits would turn into triple digits” Newt kept his gaze on the door.

“Minho, Gally, Alby and Frypan have all been here as long as I have, most of the boys have actually some came a bit later but we’ve always been together and we just went along with what the doctors said. We did what they wanted and never questioned it.” Newt sighed and looked back towards Thomas.

“Until now”

“Why now?” Thomas whispered.

“Because a few weeks ago boys started going missing, not many just one or two now and then and the doctors wouldn’t tell us where they were just that they were okay. Then they sent a new boy in after not bringing in anyone new for a long time. Now the new boy has memories that no one else does” Newt explained slowly.

“I don't understand” Thomas mumbled.

“A few of us have been suspicious for a while that the doctors aren't telling us everything and we’ve been trying to figure out a way to find out what they're hiding. I think this memory of yours could help” Newt gently put his hand on Thomas’s arm.

“How could it help?” Thomas asked.

“The trials we could start by looking for information about them, if we find out what they are we could find out what this place really is”

Thomas sighed and stared at the wall ahead in the dim light. He had only been in this place for a day and yet he knew something wasn’t right. He had felt so alone in his suspicions but now Newt had not only believed him but agreed with him. He felt relieved.

“Thank you” Thomas whispered.

“For what?”

“For listening to me and for believing me” Thomas turned to smile at Newt who gave him a sad smile in return.

“Of course” 

A silence fell over them which should have felt uncomfortable, yet it didn't. Thomas rested his head back against the wall and Newt did the same thing both processing this revelation that they could actually help each other.Thomas felt Newt take his hand off his arm and he had to admit he missed it’s presence. A few minutes passed before Thomas remembered the fact that Newt had broken in.

“How did you get in here? Both of our doors were locked right?” Thomas asked turning his head slightly in Newts direction.

“Oh yeah, I unlocked them” Newt shrugged.

“You have a key?”

“No I have an ability”

“To unlock doors?” 

Newt laughed and looked over at Thomas shaking his head.

“You’re really concerned about that lock aren’t you?” He teased gently nudging Thomas’s shoulder.

“I’m more concerned that other people may be able to break in, like Gally he could murder me in my sleep” Thomas smiled back, only half joking.

“Don’t worry, Gally couldn’t get in here quietly”

“But he could murder me?”

Newt just smirked at Thomas in reply watching as his eyes widened in mock fear. Newt laughed again shaking his head and Thomas couldn’t help but join in.

“The doctors don’t know how advanced my ability actually is, I hold back a lot in training now so they don’t realise that I can do things such as unlock these doors” Newt explained once the laughing had stopped.

“...What is your ability?” Thomas asked cautiously, unsure if it was his place to know.

Newt smiled reassuringly at him and sat up straight looking around the room his eyes landed on a pillow on the floor, one which Thomas must have knocked off the bed when he was suddenly awoken. Thomas sat up straight and watched Newt carefully.

Newt held up his hand, his eyes focused on the pillow, Thomas watched as Newts eyes began shifting from the usual soft brown to a dark red, the same shade of light began dancing around Newts fingers and around the pillow as it slowly left the ground and began floating upwards until it sat in the air with nothing but the red light holding it up.

“Telekinesis and energy manipulation” Newt said looking back at Thomas though the pillow remained in the air.

Thomas looked between Newts red eyes and the pillow, unsure if he would ever get used to these advanced people. However, Thomas did not feel scared or even nervous as Newt displayed his ability, he was simply amazed by his new friend.

“In simple terms: I can move things with my mind and manipulate energy to do whatever I need it to” Newt continued.

Thomas nodded weakly watching the light (or energy as Newt clarified) fascinated by the way it seemed to move at Newts command. Suddenly everything stopped, the red light disappeared and the pillow dropped onto the bed, Newts eyes returned to brown.

“Before you ask, no, I don't know why its red, it’s just the way my ability appears apparently” Newt said in a light tone.

“That's incredible” Thomas whispered.

“It's nothing” Newt shook his head smiling.

“Your eyes…” Thomas trailed off unsure how to finish that sentence.

“Oh yeah sorry, that creeps most people out” Newt said apologetically.

“No! No I don’t find it creepy they actually look...cool” Thomas said awkwardly.

“Thanks” Newt smiled at him seemingly amused at his awkwardness.

“So you unlocked my door with your mind?” Thomas asked to change the subject.

“Yeah, I just picked the lock but instead of using tools I used my brain. I’ll lock it again when I leave and they won’t even know I was here.”

“Aren’t there cameras outside these rooms?” Thomas asked.

“Yes but there are cameras all over this place and they can’t watch them all at once, I have enough time to slip into another room without being seen” Newt explained with such confidence that Thomas felt like he had done this before.

“So what do we do now?” Thomas asked.

“I’ll find a way to talk to Gally or Minho about what you told me, then they can tell a few others and we’ll all keep an eye out for whatever those trials are” 

“I can see what I can find out too” Thomas volunteered.

“Okay, but your ability hasn’t come back yet so you won’t have access to many areas” Newt said.

“That’s okay, while you guys are training I can take a look around” Thomas shrugged causing Newt to shake his head.

“It’s not that simple, you can’t just wander around here alone” Newt explained.

“I’ll figure something out then, I want to help you guys” Thomas insisted, Newt just sighed and nodded.

“Okay just be careful”

Thomas nodded at that. Newt then quietly got up from the bed and headed towards the door. Thomas got up and followed him over.

“We should both get some rest” Newt explained turning back to face Thomas.

“Thanks for talking to me...and not freaking out when I broke in” He continued smiling sheepishly again.

“It’s okay, you’re easy to talk to.Thanks for listening” Thomas shrugged.

Newt turned back to the door and listened for a minute the same way he had done when he entered. He didn’t seem to hear anything so he slowly and quietly opened the door and slipped out through the small gap closing it behind him. Thomas waited a second and heard the lock click back into place. He walked back over to his bed picking up the pillow as he lay back down again, cuddling it to his chest. He fell asleep quickly, his dreams filled with the colour red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For any fellow marvel fans, yes, the APPEARANCE of Newts telekinesis (The red colour) is based on the red of the Scarlet witch's powers however his abilities are strictly just telekinesis and energy manipulation :)


	7. Secrets behind The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas does some investigating and finds more than he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoy this chapter as things are revealed.   
> Thank you to the guests who have left kudos and to Latch_is_what_I_want_to_be_called for taking the time to comment!

The next morning when Thomas entered the main dining area and spotted Newt speaking to Gally quietly he immediately knew what they were talking about and decided he should be involved. He made his way over to the pair who were positioned near the staircase, Gally leaning back on it casually as they spoke. Thomas’s eyes met Gallys and the taller boy immediately stopped talking, Newt looked around in a confused manner until he also spotted Thomas. Thomas sent Gally a smirk when Newt beckoned him over, Gally rolled his eyes.

“Hey, are you guys talking about my-” Thomas began before cutting himself off when Gally subtly gave his shoulder a harsh shove, Thomas frowned at his glare and stepped forward once again refusing to be intimidated.

“Stop!” Newt hissed holding up his hands gently pushing them both back without touching them. 

“You need to keep your voice down out here” Newt whispered in explanation, looking around to see if they had caught anyone's attention. They hadn’t.

“Oh right sorry”

“I’ve already spoken to Minho and Alby they’ve agreed to keep an eye out” Newt turned back to Gally speaking quietly again.

“Alright I’ll look around but I don’t think this will help” Gally said crossing his arms.

“It's the best lead we’ve got right now” Newt shrugged.

“I’ll see what I can find too, I’m still free during training hours” Thomas piped up, though remembering to speak quietly this time.

“Thomas remember what I said last night, it’s not that simple” Newt gave him a worried look.

“No I know” Thomas brushed him off slightly, already trying to come up with a plan.

“Hey guys! The Food is getting cold” Frypan suddenly called out, making his way towards them.

“Like that's an issue for you” Gally smirked in reply, there seemed to be an inside joke that Thomas didn’t understand.

Frypan chuckled in reply and nodded toward the kitchen before beginning to lead the way over. Gally gave Newt a pat on the shoulder before following Frypan. Thomas watched them go before turning back to Newt.

“How will I know if you guys find anything?” Thomas asked, guessing Gally wouldn’t be the one to tell him.

“I’ll find a way to tell you, don’t worry you won’t be kept in the dark” Newt said reassuringly.

“Be careful” Thomas mumbled quietly, biting his lip.

Newt nodded and gave Thomas a reassuring smile. Thomas turned to make his way to the kitchen when he paused seeing that Minho was heading in their direction.

“Hey, I need to head up early for training” Minho said in greeting.

“Why do some people have separate training hours?” Thomas quickly remembering Gally attending something similar the day before.

“The doctors they like to run some tests to check on how we’re doing, it’s usually separate and only a few people a day” Minho explained pausing as he had already begun to climb the stairs.

“Good luck” Newt said looking up at Minho.

“Thanks, I’ll let you know if I see anything” Minho replied before he continued on his way up the stairs.

That was the last the plan (if you could even call it that) was mentioned before the rest of the boys left for training. Thomas watched them leave before he turned and headed back to the entrance. He entered the maze of corridors and began walking, purposely taking the opposite path to the one he would usually take. The corridors were empty to begin with and Thomas manoeuvred them easily, finding little.

Soon Thomas made a turn that caused him to stop, the corridor stopped and had a large black door at the end of it, one Thomas hadn’t seen before. He looked around before approaching slowly. He paused when he reached the door and reached for the handle gently tugging on it. It didn’t open. Thomas sighed and looked down noticing a keypad next to the door.

“Shit” He whispered realising he wouldn’t be able to unlock this by himself.

Thomas then looked around waiting for an idea to pop into his head but nothing came. He was about to give up and try another way when suddenly he heard approaching footsteps on the other side of the door. Thomas panicked and looked around having nowhere to hide, he quickly sidestepped the door and squeezed himself against the wall beside it just before the door swung open, Thomas was covered by the open door and he watched as two people in white lab coats exited and headed down the corridor. He waited for a few seconds before he quickly grabbed the door to stop it from closing and slid through the gap, pulling the door shut behind him.

Thomas cringed as he heard the door lock behind him, he realised there was a keypad this side too and he wouldn’t be getting back out that way alone. He sighed and turned to see where exactly he was. 

He was once again staring down a corridor, similar to all the others except this one had multiple doors lining the left and right walls. People in white lab coats were entering and exiting doors, all too preoccupied with clipboards and folders to notice Thomas right away. Thomas knew that wouldn’t last long and he quickly looked around smirking when he spotted some hooks near the first door on his left, some of them had white lab coats hanging on them. He grabbed one and put it on hoping to blend in. He knew this would only work from a distance so he had to move quickly. He began walking down the hallway glancing at every door trying to figure out which ones would hold the key information.

He managed to walk a few meters before he ran into his first problem (or at least almost ran into it). Exiting from a door on the left was a man unlike everyone else, he was not in a lab coat instead sporting a long black jacket with black trousers to match. He seemed to have some authority as he barked orders at someone who Thomas couldn’t see.

Thomas soon realised that this man would definitely know he wasn’t a real doctor and panicked. He slipped into the nearest room on his right closing the door quietly behind himself before he turned to evaluate the new situation he now found himself in.

He was in a large room with what looked like a large television monitor covering three quarters of the one wall. Displayed on the screen were multiple squares, each showing what looked like a different room, it seemed like Thomas had found the security room. He looked around further and spotted a large bookshelf that reached the ceiling, it was filled with red folders all labelled differently. Thomas turned back to the monitors and noticed a desk just below them, with a computer and a small pile of red folders like the ones on the bookshelf. Sat at the desk was a woman, making notes within one of the folders, Thomas couldn’t see her face but noticed that she was thin with long dark hair. The woman looked up slightly hearing Thomas stood behind her but she did not pay him much attention, quickly turning her attention back to her notes.

Thomas sighed in relief as he came to the conclusion that this woman did not recognise him as one of the patients but rather she thought of him as a doctor. That made things a little easier he supposed. Thomas turned his attention back to the monitor to figure out what it was displaying he frowned and took a cautious step forward as he focused on one of the squares seeing a young boy that he slightly recognised from the dining area. He was in a small room facing what looked like a small cannon. Thomas watched fascinated as the cannon shot something towards the boy who quickly held out his hands and created a green bubble that surrounded himself. The object bounced off the bubble and landed on the floor. Thomas quickly realised that this must have been footage from the training rooms and he began scanning for a more familiar face.

His eyes were drawn toward a square just above when a blur flew across the screen. Thomas flinched in surprise and took another step closer trying to figure out what he was looking at. A blur was darting back and forth across the screen within a longer room this time, with tracks painted on the floor. There was also what looked like a large treadmill in one corner. The blur suddenly came to a halt and Thomas could now see that it was Minho, he was now resting heavily against one of the walls leaning down to rest his hands on his knees as he panted with exhaustion. Minho seemed to pull himself together as he made his way over to the treadmill, he got on and began running at a normal pace at first before he began to get faster and faster and faster until he was once again just a blur, Thomas realised the treadmill must have been modified as it easily allowed Minho to run.

Thomas glanced back down towards the woman curiously as she also seemed to be watching the displays of power in between making her notes. This sparked his curiosity revolving the red folders, his eyes wandered back over to the bookshelf and he tried to appear casual as he made his way over scanning them. They all had white labels on their spines with thick black writing on them, Thomas had to tilt his head to read them. Winston, Chuck, Minho, Newt. There seemed to be a folder for every boy within the lab and Thomas needed to know what they said. He began looking for his own one but found nothing. Suddenly a loud slam of a folder filled the room and Thomas jumped, spinning around to look at the woman.

“Someone else will be coming here soon” She said quietly putting a red folder back on the small pile she had on her desk. She didn’t turn to look at him.

Thomas frowned and tilted his head confused for a second before it hit him that she was warning him. Thomas nodded and quickly reached out snatching one of the red folders from the bookshelf before he slipped back out of the door without looking back at the woman. He had no time to wonder why she had helped him and how she’d known who he was.

Thomas tried to hide how terrified he really felt as he clutched the red folder to his chest and feigned a casual walk. He looked around before slipping into what looked like a storage room, he closed the door behind him and leaned back against the shelf sighing in relief as he found himself finally alone. He looked down at the red folder and tilted it slightly to read the name on the spine. Minho. Thomas bit down on his lip hesitating for a moment, he didn’t want to disrespect his friends privacy but...they all needed to know what was going on here.

Thomas slowly opened the folder and looked down, the first thing he saw was a small picture of Minho in the top left corner. Written beside the picture was his name (lacking a surname Thomas noticed), height, weight and blood type. Thomas also noticed his age was not noted, either these doctors didn’t know or didn’t care. Below the basic information was a heading, treatment, Thomas frowned as he began to read the paragraph below it. 

It was describing a drug, some kind of DNA altering drug being administered in regular doses through multiple trials. It described Minho as a good patient whose body did not reject the drug. Thomas read on trying to figure out what exactly this drug was doing, was it the drug that made the abilities dormant? The paragraph continued and described the way Minho's DNA began to change due to the drug and an ability began to show. Thomas froze, slowly piecing together the facts. Minho, and most likely everyone, were given a DNA altering drug to...give them abilities? Thomas almost dropped the folder. The doctors weren’t helping these kids adjust to their innate abilities, these doctors were experimenting on normal children to give them these abilities. But why? Thomas shakily turned the page and gasped as bold black words stared back at him. Weapon 12.


	8. Lab rats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas goes to find his friends with this new information, unfortunately things aren't going well on their end either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! The pace of the story will start to pick up now and the tone may begin to shift.

Thomas was barely aware of his own moving feet as he followed a doctor closely back to the entrance. His mind was racing with that one word, weapon. He’d dropped the folder as soon as he’d read it and left the storage room, barely glancing back. Thomas tried to control his breathing as he waited for the doctor to put in the code into the door, he followed them out of the open door and immediately started heading back towards the dining area. Once Thomas saw that he was alone in the corridors he took off the lab coat and threw it down before beginning to run back in the direction of his friends.

Amazingly, Thomas managed to remember the route back during his panicked run and he soon found himself almost crashing into a door. He barely paused to take a breath before he burst into the dining hall, everyone was back from training and acting normal as far as Thomas could see. Thomas stopped not wanting to cause a scene and scare everyone right away, first he had to find his small group.

Thomas’s eyes were drawn to a table towards the back of the room as a pacing figure caught his attention. Sat around the table were Frypan, Gally, and Alby, Newt was the one pacing back and forth in front of the table. Thomas made his way over, as he got closer he began to hear part of the boys hushed conversation.

“He should be back by now”

“Relax, it’s only been about ten minutes”

“He’s never been late before”

“What’s going on?” Thomas asked when he finally reached the table, everyone looked up and Newt continued to pace.

“Minho’s not back from training” Frypan explained.

“Is that bad?” Thomas asked awkwardly.

“No one is ever late back from training, early maybe but not late. They must have held him back for something.” Newt spoke up.

“Being held behind by the doctors isn’t a good sign” Frypan added.

“Panicking isn’t going to help it will just raise suspicion- Newt! Sit down!” Gally cut himself off to snap at the blonde.

Newt sighed but did as he was told, taking a seat next to Alby who had been strangely quiet during the conversation. Thomas stayed standing and glanced around the room. None of the other boys seemed worried but Thomas guessed that was because they weren’t as suspicious of this place and his own group had become. Everyone just seemed exhausted and after seeing the footage of training Thomas understood why.

“Minho can take care of himself” Alby muttered though Thomas could tell he was mainly saying that to keep everyone calm. “We need to behave normally, we are supposed to trust the doctors remember”

Thomas bit down on his lip as he realised what Alby was saying, they could not speak openly about their suspicions like this as they could be overheard. Thomas also realised he could not just blurt out what he had found. His hands clenched into fists as he thought about what could really be happening to Minho right now.

“I need to make sure everyone is okay and not suspicious, get something to eat and act normal.” Alby ordered as he stood up from the table.

Everyone seemed to agree without much hesitation as Alby walked away. Thomas sat down in the now vacant seat and stared down at the table, his foot tapping anxiously. No one made a move towards the kitchen and Thomas could understand why as he began to feel sick the more he thought about everything. Thomas heard Frypan strike up a conversation with Gally in an attempt to behave normally. Thomas tuned the pair out as he fell deeper into the rabbit hole that held his thoughts.

It felt like hours later (though it couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes) when Thomas was brought out of his mind. He looked up as he felt movement beside him and watched as Newt stood up and made his way over to the staircase. Frypan and Gally also stood but stayed in place, looking up towards the stairs. Thomas followed their gaze and spotted Minho slowly making his way down.

Minho was deathly pale and leaning heavily against the rail as he struggled down, his legs were shaking and Thomas feared he wouldn’t be able to get down. Minho did however manage to get to the bottom of the staircase where Newt was waiting with a worried expression, Thomas saw the two exchange a few words before suddenly Minho’s legs finally gave out. Newt quickly caught the asian boy, putting one arm around his middle and placing Minho's arm over his shoulders to support him.Thomas had barely gotten out of his seat before Gally and Frypan were on their way over there. Gally got there first and gently took Minho from Newts grasp seeing the blonde beginning to struggle to hold their friend up, the taller boy effortlessly helped Minho towards the nearest table which luckily was empty. Thomas hurried over to the group and came to a stop beside Frypan as Gally helped Minho sit.

“Are you okay?” Was the first thing Thomas said, Gally shot him an unimpressed look at the stupid question. 

“I’m fine, I just overdid it during training” Minho muttered breathlessly, his tired eyes flicked towards the training room before landing back on his friends. A warning they were being watched.

“I’ll get you some water” Frypan gently patted Minho on the shoulder before heading towards the kitchen.

Gally sat down beside Minho looking, for once, at a loss for words. Thomas couldn’t blame him, he itched to ask Minho what he had found and why he was in this state but he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Newt took a seat on the other side of Minho and looked down at the boys arms.

“How did you get those?” He whispered looking back up at Minho.

Thomas looked down and saw what Newt was referring to: bruises. Small bruises on Minho’s forearm. Thomas now also noticed how much Minho’s veins stood out against his pale skin. Minho glanced around and he seemed hesitant to answer for a second.

“What did they do?” Thomas asked angrily though remembering to keep his voice down.

“Needles” Minho whispered gesturing to the bruises.

“After training they took me to this...white room and strapped me down. They injected me with something” He continued so quietly that Thomas only just about heard him.

“Trial 4” Thomas whispered to himself as his mind flashed back to the memories he had of the pain and bright lights.

“What?”

Thomas barely acknowledged the question as he began to think. They had injected Minho with something? Maybe the same drug he had read about in Minho's file but why? Minho already had his ability unless...they were making it stronger. Speeding up the process towards weapon? He wasn’t sure about anything except the fact they needed to get out of the lab. Soon.

“Minho, here” Frypan appeared back by their side holding out a glass of water, he was accompanied by Alby.

Minho took the glass with a trembling hand and sipped the water. Alby looked around at the boys seemingly deep in his thoughts and no one said a word. The silence was only broken by the distant chatter of the other boys who either didn’t suspect anything was wrong or if they did were too tired to care. Barely a minute passed before a wailing alarm made Thomas flinch and cover his ears. The alarm lasted three seconds and the boys all looked around in confusion seeming to recognise it.

“Lock-down already?” Frypan asked.

“No this isn’t right they're locking us up early” Alby added.

The room buzzed with activity as all the boys began to stand and head towards the entrance. Gally helped Minho up looking around suspiciously before his eyes landed on Thomas.

“Nothing like this ever happened before you got here” He muttered bitterly.

“We both know that's not true” Thomas heard Newt mutter in response. 

Thomas gently grabbed hold of Newt and Minho’s wrists keeping them and by extension Gally in place whilst the rest of the boys reluctantly dispersed and headed towards the entrance. Looking back towards Minho’s state Thomas knew he couldn’t just keep his new-found knowledge to himself.

“Tommy?” Newt asked frowning.

Thomas said nothing and just watched as the rest of the boys began filing out of the dining room, once the majority were near the entrance Thomas began a slow walk in that direction indicating the others to walk beside him. He made sure that the four of them were quite behind the others but still looked like they were following the rules.

“What the hell are you doing?” Gally asked supporting Minho and helping the boy walk with them.

“I found something” Thomas whispered so only the four of them could hear.

“What? When?” Minho asked quickly but quietly.

“Whilst you were training I had a look around”

“Did anyone see you?” Newt asked quickly sounding concerned.

“What did you find?” Gally snapped before Thomas could answer.

“Some files on everyone, I didn’t get a chance to read everything but from what I saw this place is not what it claims to be” Thomas began explaining as they walked.

“What do you mean?” Minho asked.

“They’re experimenting on you, on all of us actually, giving us these abilities. You weren’t born with them at all” Thomas quickly explained.

Minho, Newt and Gally all stopped walking and stared at Thomas in shock. Thomas stopped too glancing around to see that the rest of the boys had now left. 

“Experiments? So what? We’re like their little lab rats?” Gally asked angrily.

“I’m sorry but it's true” Was all Thomas could say.

“Why? Why did they give us these abilities?” Newt asked trying to keep a calm persona, unlike half an hour ago.

“I think…” Thomas hesitated.

“Thomas?” Minho prompted him gently also seeming to try and remain calm.

“I think they’re making us into their weapons” Thomas finally said.

A look of horror crossed over all three of their faces. Thomas almost felt guilty for causing it but he knew it was for the best best that people started uncovering the labs secrets.These experiments were obviously dangerous. 

“Did you not hear the alarm?” A voice came from behind them made the boys jump.

Thomas flinched having not heard anyone enter the room or even approach them. He quickly turned to see a familiar face. It was the man in the dark clothing he had seen barking orders while he was looking around. Whoever he was Thomas could tell he was an authority figure which meant bad news if he had overheard them.

“We were just going” Newt said quietly.

“Hurry, you can’t just wander around this place whenever you like” The man spat his eyes lingering on Thomas for a second.

Thomas felt his blood run cold as he met the eyes of the dark man. Did he know? Thomas was sure he’d been careful but maybe not careful enough.

The boys shared a worried look before turning to leave the dining room. They made their way back to their rooms in silence not daring to discuss the truth anymore today. Once Thomas had finally reached his room he sat down on the bed feeling uneasy. He shuffled to face the door and hugged his knees to his chest watching closely. He knew he wouldn’t rest that night.


	9. They come at night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas knows more than he should and pays the price.

Thomas blinked his stinging eyes closed for a second keeping his ears tuned towards the door. He had been awake for hours, never taking his concentration off the door. He knew he had to get out of here, they all did, but he didn’t know how. He had yet to come across anything that looked like an exit, in fact the only sign that there was a way out was the glass ceiling just outside the door. Thomas briefly wondered if any of the boys could fly.

His thought process was shattered by the sound of a lock clicking. Thomas’s eyes snapped open and he sat up straight. Maybe it was Newt breaking into his room again, the sight of a familiar face was something Thomas really needed. The door slowly swung open and Thomas immediately realised this was not Newt. A dark tall man stood in the doorway.   
The same man from before in the dark jacket. His face was unfriendly and his eyes looked menacing. 

Thomas quickly scrambled up off of his bed and backed up against the nearest wall. The man watched him with a small unfriendly smile before he nodded, this signal prompted two doctors to enter the room and each grab hold Thomas’s arms. Thomas thrashed trying to get free.

“Who are you? What are you doing?!” He exclaimed looking directly at the man in the doorway. Thomas briefly wondered if the other boys knew what was happening.

“Shh Thomas, I think you’ve caused enough trouble” The man said sneeringly.

Thomas yelped in pain as he felt a sharp sting in his neck. His thrashing became weaker as the room became dimmer. Thomas tried his best to stay standing but whatever he had been injected with was insistent on preventing that.

“Let...me...go” Thomas whispered weakly in one last attempt to get free.

“Come with us, we have work to do” Was the last thing Thomas heard before he gave into the darkness.

Panic gripped Thomas’s heart when he next woke. He immediately recognised the bright lights and the colourless room. He tried to get up but was once again strapped to a table. He looked around. The same man who had been at his door now stood above him, he was holding a red folder. Thomas assumed it was his.

“Hello Thomas” He smirked down at the boy.

“What are you doing to me!” Thomas asked tugging at the restraints.

“The better question is ‘what am I doing for you?’” The man turned a page in the folder and tutted.

“5 trials and no results, very disappointing. By trial 5 an ability usually makes an appearance or the patient dies, what makes you so different?”

“You’re sick!” Thomas spat completely ignoring the man's question.

“Oh am I?”

“Yes! You’re experimenting on children!”

“No, I am enhancing them. They are becoming better versions of themselves as will you” 

Thomas scoffed and glared up at the man. The red folder was handed to the nearest doctor who began studying it himself.

“Why do you need weapons?” Thomas decided to question the man.

“Ah yes, I almost forgot you broke into a restricted area and looked at secure data” The man chuckled darkly, ignoring Thomas’s question.

“The data wasn’t that secure” Thomas muttered under his breath.

“I must say I am slightly impressed, you don’t even have an ability and I can already see you will be my best project yet” 

Thomas kept his mouth shut and watched as the man picked up a needle, flicking it. Thomas saw it was filled with a dark liquid. The man leaned down and positioned the needle above a vein in Thomas’s arm.

“Don’t fight it” He whispered before the needle pierced Thomas's skin and the drug was administered.

Thomas tensed up as he felt the foreign drug coursed through his veins, a burning pain quickly followed and Thomas grit his teeth refusing to scream. He struggled against the restraints once again. The man smiled as he watched.

“Soon, you and your friends will be my strongest and most loyal weapons” He said and Thomas froze as his friends were brought up.

“What...are you talking...about?” He managed to say through his gritted teeth.

“You see Thomas I tend to notice when my patients begin acting up, growing suspicious and I can’t have that. My system only works if everyone goes along with it” The man began circling the bed.

“You and your little group are ruining that system. So I need to speed up the process, I need my weapons fully under my control”

“What are you doing to them?” Thomas spat.

“The same thing I am doing to you, I am upping the dosage. I need their abilities to reach their full potential quickly and seeing as they no longer trust my training methods I have to do it the old fashioned way” The man paused standing just out of Thomas’s sight.

“That’s dangerous! You could kill them!” Thomas shouted angrily, fearing more for his friends than himself.

“I’m willing to take that risk. I didn’t want to do it this way Thomas but...you’ve forced my hand”

“No! Leave them alone!” Thomas shouted.

“Begin trial 6”


	10. Experiments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The experiments continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Feedback and Kudos appreciated :)

Screaming. Screaming filled Thomas’s ears. It bounced off the walls and shook the room. The burning in his throat made Thomas quickly realise the screaming was coming from him. But he couldn’t stop. It felt like he’d been injected with acid as the drug ran through his blood.

“Janson, his heart rate is increasing at a concerning rate” Thomas just about heard a doctor call out.

“Is he showing any signs of an ability?”

“Well no but-”

“Then the trial is not finished”

Thomas once again struggled against his restraints desperately, he needed the pain to stop. He needed all of this to be over. He stilled his movements when he saw Janson kneel down beside his bed and look him in the eye.

“We could have done this the easy way, slow and relatively painless but you just had to be too curious” He smirked.

Thomas glared and grit his teeth not daring to reply. Instead he turned his gaze towards the bright lights and focused on taking deep breaths, trying his best to ignore the pain in his arm. Now that he had managed to stop screaming he realised he could hear voices, he frowned and tried to listen carefully.

“Get off of me!” He heard someone shout and he realised he recognised that voice as Gally.

Thomas growled realising that Janson had not been lying and in fact his friends were probably strapped down and being tormented just like he was. Thomas felt anger course through his veins and he focused on that trying to ignore the pain.

“I’m going to administer another dose” He heard someone say.

Thomas clenched his hands into fists and screamed partly out of frustration and partly out of fear. He thrashed on his bed trying to pull his arm away from the doctors. He heard similar shouting and screaming coming from other rooms and his anger tripled. He saw red.

Suddenly the electrical equipment around the room began to spark and hiss as they short circuited. Electricity continued sparking throughout the room, they looked like small lightning bolts as they tore across the room. Doctors screamed as they were thrown against the wall as the equipment exploded in a display that resembled lightning. Glass from the windows shattered raining down onto the floor. Alarms began blaring and they were the only thing that kept Thomas awake. He felt exhausted all of a sudden, he weakly looked around the room and saw it in chaos, everyone laying still. He didn’t know what had happened or why the equipment had exploded but he felt grateful for it. Thomas looked down and noticed his restraints had finally snapped.

Thomas sat up slowly, feeling dizzy and weak. Pain still radiated from his arm but it was suddenly more manageable. He climbed off the bed and looked around the room, the sight of the unmoving doctors made him feel sick. He took a step forward to check if one was still alive but froze a second later. Thomas knew that if they woke up they would just hurt him again. He knew he had to leave them, so he did. He stumbled out of the room using the wall as support. The alarm was still blaring and Thomas had to resist the urge to cover his ears. He needed to find his friends. He looked around and found himself surrounded by doors in a long corridor, each door was accompanied by a long thin window like his own room had been. Doctors were running in both directions clearly panicking.

Thomas flinched when he heard a commotion coming from the door directly ahead of him, he glanced towards the window and his eyes widened as he saw a team of three doctors trying to restrain a clearly very angry Gally down onto a bed. Thomas didn’t think twice before he burst into the room.

“Don’t just stand there greenie!” Was the first thing that Gally barked as he lay eyes on him. Thomas would have been annoyed if the situation weren’t so dire. 

Thomas’s sudden entrance also caught the attention of the doctors who took their attention off Gally for a second. Unfortunately for them that second was enough. Gally managed to rip his right arm out of the restraint and use it to roughly shove aside one of the men holding him down. Thomas stepped forward and grabbed the arm of another doctor trying to tug him away from Gally. This worked for a moment before the lingering pain in his arm and his exhaustion got the better of Thomas and he felt himself being shoved towards the ground. 

Thomas saw the doctor pick something up off a nearby silver surgical table, a needle. Thomas tried to sit up as quickly as he could and shuffled back slightly as the doctor advanced. Taking a quick glance around the room Thomas could see Gally was still being held down and strapped back to the table by one man. Thomas didn’t want to take his chances trying to fight these doctors off alone, as far as he could remember he’d never been in a fight before, so thinking quickly Thomas kicked the silver table as hard as he could, sending it straight into the doctor holding Gally down. The table only knocked the doctor off balance slightly but it meant that he had let go of Gally who pulled his other hand free from the restraints.

“Hey!” Gally shouted gaining the attention of the man holding the needle.

Thomas finally got back on his feet just in time to see Gally shove the man aside knocking the needle out of his hand. The man hit the nearest wall and crumpled to the floor, Gally seemed a bit shocked at his own actions and hesitated whatever his next move was. Thomas decided to take over and he quickly moved towards the bed and grabbed what was left of the restraints, he quickly used them bound the wrists of the other two doctors in the room.

“Let's go” Gally muttered sounding a bit dazed before making his way out the door. Thomas quickly followed him and closed the door behind them both.

Gally froze when he saw more doctors running in the corridor but he quickly realised that they were not interested in them. Thoms still tensed whenever one of them brushed past him but they did not react in return.

“Why aren’t they stopping us?” Gally asked frowning.

Thomas did not have an answer for him so he just remained quiet watching the carnage unfold around him. He felt like he was invisible, he wondered if this was what Chuck felt like. Wait. The others. 

“I think they have some of the others up here” He spoke nervously to Gally remembering what Janson had said.

“Who?” Gally asked looking around in confusion at the wreckage that was the room Thomas had been in.

“I-I don’t know” Thomas stuttered still trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened.

Gally didn’t seem too sympathetic as he just huffed and stormed off, peering into windows as he passed them. Thomas stumbled after him copying his movements. It was a few meters down the corridor before they found an occupied room. Gally burst in almost ripping the door right off its hinges.

The inside of the room was identical to what had been Thomas’s except for the fact that it was void of doctors. He looked around and spotted the occupant of the room. Newt was laying on his side on the bed, his left arm outstretched slightly and Thomas could see the red marks on Newts skin from where they had administered the drug. He was unconscious and not restrained to the bed like Gally and Thomas had been, maybe because they had already finished their little experiment? 

“Newt! Are you okay?” Thomas panicked as he hurried over to the bed. He gently shook the blonde to wake him, he was trying his best not to hurt him. Gally remained by the door looking out for any sign of trouble.

“Does he look okay?” Gally snapped and Thomas huffed resisting the urge to snap back, now really wasn’t the time.

“Newt wake up!” Thomas tried again this time more forcefully.

Thomas sighed in relief as this seemed to work. Newt slowly blinked his eyes open taking a second for them to focus before his gaze landed on Thomas.

“Tommy? What…?” He mumbled slowly sitting up with Thomas’s help.

“We need to go” Was all Thomas said in explanation as he helped Newt up off the bed. Thankfully, Newt seemed more steady on his feet than Thomas had been.

Screaming cut through the blaring alarm and Thomas shared a look with Gally before the two hurried into the corridor, Thomas pulling Newt along by his thin wrist.

“The enhanced are escaping!” Someone was screaming.

“Sounds like we’re not the only ones fighting back” Gally muttered.

“We all need to get out of here” Thomas said quickly.

Gally gave a short nod before he continued his search of the rooms, checking for anyone else that the doctors had taken. Thomas and Newt followed his example. They continued checking rooms reaching the end of the corridor and finding most of them empty, Thomas began to doubt anyone else was up here when suddenly he felt a gust of wind blow past him as a blur darted out of the last room on the right and slammed straight into the wall. Thomas flinched back and without thinking grabbed hold of Newts hand pulling him back too.

Minho groaned and leaned against the wall rubbing his arm which had suffered the most in the impact. Thomas looked towards the room he had exited and saw doctors getting to their feet and grabbing needles. Sedatives Thomas deducted. However, they didn’t get a chance to leave the room as the door suddenly slammed closed and was glowing red. Newt held out his hand and Thomas watched fascinated as he moved his fingers in a complicated pattern, bending some whilst keeping others straight. Red energy danced between them and Newt seemed to shift this energy towards the inside of the lock. Thomas heard the lock the door lock, trapping the doctors inside for now.

“Who put that wall there?” Minho spoke quietly continuing to rub his arm, Thomas barely heard him over the alarm.

“Are you okay?” Newt asked loudly, his eyes shifting from red to brown as he stopped using his ability.

Minho nodded and let go of his arm. He stood upright and stepped closer to the group his eyes scanning each of them seeming to check for injuries. He seemed satisfied when he found none. 

“Who else do they have here?” Gally asked gaining everyone's attention.

“Just us I think” Minho said.

“Why us?” Newt asked curiously.

“I’m not sure, the doctors didn’t give me an evil monologue” Minho’s fear began to show through a sarcastic tone.

“It’s my fault, I told you guys the truth about this place and Janson heard us” Thomas said reluctantly.

“Rat man” Gally huffed angrily as he recognised the name.

“It’s not your fault Thomas, we were looking into this place too” Newt said gently.

Thomas nodded slightly but didn’t reply, instead he looked around the corridor noticing that the doctors who had been running around shouting had now disappeared and the only sounds he could hear was the blaring alarm and banging on the locked door to their right.

“The doctors were panicking about the enhanced escaping but...they aren’t trying to stop us” Thomas repeated Gallys earlier though frowning in confusion. The others also looked around at the empty corridor.

“Well if they aren’t trying to stop us, who are they trying to stop?” Minho asked.

“The others? Maybe they got out of lockdown” Newt suggested.

“They’ll need our help” Thomas said.

“What are we waiting for then?” Gally snapped as he began stomping back the way they had come. He was looking for a way back to the others.

Thomas, Minho and Newt all followed him quickly. Thomas wasn’t sure which way to go or even what they would face once they did make their way back. He was certain of one thing though...they were getting out of here tonight.


	11. W.C.K.D isn't good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter and the progression of the story!

The four of them headed back in what they hoped was the direction of their friends not quite running but moving with a sense of urgency. Suspiciously, the doctors that had previously been running through the area had disappeared and Thomas had to wonder what was so important that he was allowed to run free. 

The group soon reached two adjoining glass doors with the word W.C.K.D written on them much like the doors Thomas had seen on the tour. They burst through them and paused as the scenery had changed.

They had entered a large oval room with curved walls. Along the left side of the wall were four doorways all with steps going down into the darkness. The lack of light along these stairs made it hard to see where they went. The right side mirrored this image with another four doorways. Straight ahead seemed to be a dead end.

“The training rooms” Newt said to Thomas looking towards the second doorway on the left.

“They lead to the training rooms?” Thomas asked and Newt nodded.

“There are eight types of training rooms, depending on your ability you are assigned one” Minho piped up.

“How do we get out of here and back to the main area?” Thomas asked not seeing an exit door anywhere.

Newt bit his lip and headed forward, straight towards the dead end. Thomas followed him and as the two got closer Thomas could see the slight discoloration of the wall, almost like it didn’t fit with the rest of the room. When they came to a stop Thomas spotted a keypad just to the right of the wall.

“This is the wall that moves, remember? But I don’t know how to open it it's usually opened for us before training” Newt explained frowning at the keypad. Gally and Minho made their way over.

Thomas looked back at the wall and remembered when Newt had shown him this during the tour. He glanced back at the keypad and realised it would need some kind of password to open it, probably the same one he had seen the doctors use before. Thomas sighed wishing he’d taken a closer look at what they had entered before.

“We need some kind of password or-”

“A code” A soft voice cut Thomas off.

The four boys all whirled around quickly to find the owner of the voice. Stood in the middle of the oval room was a thin girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes, her lab coat seemed to almost swallow her. She looked young, like them. Thomas immediately recognised the thin frame and the dark hair, this was the same girl who had warned him before.

“Its you” Was all he could say, the lab coat still made him uneasy.

The girl nodded and slowly made her way towards them. Newt took a step back, glancing at Thomas in confusion. He had no reason to trust this doctor, then again did Thomas? Gally was poised like a snake waiting to strike as his hands curled into fists. Minho tried to keep his face clear of any emotion but Thomas could see the slight tremor of his hands. The girl stopped in front of them looking between them with guilt in her eyes. She then reached over to the keypad and began inputting a code. 

“233114” The girl told them the code quietly avoiding looking back at them.

“Who are you? Why are you helping us?” He heard Newt ask the girl with a surprisingly gentle tone.

“My name is Teresa” Was all the girl said, seemingly avoiding the second question.

The four boys all took a step away from the wall and watched as it began sliding open. Teresa stood beside them not saying a word. Once the wall had completely slid open Thomas spotted the glass doors that he knew lead to the dining area. Thomas walked towards the glass doors pushing them open he hurried out onto the balcony overlooking the dining area. He frowned when it was silent and empty.

“Where are all the doctors?” He asked as he headed towards the staircase, he heard multiple sets of footsteps following him.

“They’re on the floor below” He heard Teresa reply and he almost stopped right in his tracks.

“There's another floor below us?” He asked, remembering the vibrations he’d heard on his first day. The other three looked just as surprised as he was.

Teresa nodded but didn’t elaborate instead she stopped following the group as they made their way down the staircase. Thomas frowned and paused causing the others to stop too, he looked up at Teresa curiously.

“Your friends, not all of them are in their rooms” She explained gently.

“Why? Where are they?” Minho asked.

“There was a small group they took to the training rooms to...” Teresa seemed to struggle to finish the sentence. 

“Speed up the process of enhancement?” Thomas supplied and she nodded looking towards the ground.

“That information would have been helpful back there you know?” Gally huffed looking back towards the glass doors. Teresa didn’t reply.

“We have to get them out too” Thomas said.

“We need to be quick the doctors could come back” Minho warned.

“Okay let's split up” Thomas took charge of the group, no one openly objected.

“Minho and Gally do you think you could get the others out of the training rooms?” 

“Yes, I know my way around that place a little too well” Minho answered for them both, crossing his arms. 

“While you do that Newt and I will go and get everyone else out of the rooms” 

“What do we do once we’ve gotten them out?” Minho asked.

“Teresa do you know a way out of here?” Thomas turned to the doctor.

“Yes, there should be a way out through the doctors quarters it's where we- they stay” Teresa explained.

“Should?” Gally questioned.

“I’ve never left but I know there is a way” Teresa admitted.

“Okay we’ll get everyone out and meet back here. Then Teresa can take us to the doctors quarters” Thomas explained the plan.

Teresa remained quiet during this simply watching Thomas with a curious look. Once the plan was finalised the boys split up with Gally and Minho heading back towards the training rooms. Thomas allowed Newt to lead the way as he knew the route back to the rooms much better than Thomas did. Teresa had silently decided to go with Thomas and Newt, neither of the boys objected to Teresa coming with them and she seemed grateful for that.

They reached the ladder with ease and Thomas’s suspicions grew, were all the doctors in a lower part of the lab? If so why? When they knew people like Thomas and Newt were running around the lab free. These thoughts raced through Thomas’s mind as he climbed up the ladder and out of the small hatch, Newt and Teresa followed him out and looked around. Most of the rooms still looked locked and undisturbed except for their own and a few other doors which must have belonged to the currently missing group.

“I can unlock these doors but I’m going to need some time” Newt said to Thomas looking around at the circle of doors. 

“Okay I’ll keep watch” Thomas nodded.

Newt headed towards the nearest door and held out his hand, he tilted his head a little in concentration as his eyes shifted colour and his hand glowed. Thomas watched fascinated as he moved his fingers in the same complicated pattern he had earlier. It only took a few seconds before a click was heard and Newt dropped his hand pushing the door open talking to whoever was in there. Then once he was done explaining the situation Newt moved onto the next door. A boy exited the room and Thomas could see by the name on the door that this boy was Jeff.

Thomas could have watched Newt unlock every single door, still amazed by the variety of abilities his friends seemed to show, but he had promised to keep watch so instead he turned his eyes back to the hatch. Teresa was stood beside him also watching the hatch.

“Why are you helping us?” Thomas whispered, repeating the earlier question. He wanted answers whilst they had time to talk.

Teresa looked up into Thomas's eyes and seemed to contemplate her answer. Now that Thomas really looked at her she looked just as frightened as they felt.

“Wicked isn’t good” She whispered finally.

“Wicked? That’s the lab isn't it?” Thomas asked.

“Wicked is everything, the lab, the doctors, the experiments it's all of them” Teresa listed, Thomas nodded in understanding and let a beat of silence pass before he continued his questioning.

“Why aren’t they up here trying to stop us?” Thomas asked.

“They're dealing with something much bigger”

“What?” Thomas asked in confusion. Teresa took a deep breath before answering him.

“Wicked are trying to create weapons, they’re making you enhanced people so you will be their weapons” Teresa began, she had already helped Thomas discover this.

“They take children like us, give them abilities which they further enhance through drugs and training then they brainwash them into becoming part of their army.”

“That's why some of the boys disappeared?” Thomas asked and she nodded.

“But…” Teresa paused again looking back down into the hatch.

“You’re not the only ones they’ve been experimenting on” Teresa whispered. “They’ve been making...creatures. They call them Grievers”

“Creatures?” Thomas asked.

“Monsters” Teresa replied.

“They created them. They’re huge, vicious and trained to kill. They are dangerous.”

“Teresa, why are you telling me this?” Thomas whispered, dreading the answer.

“Because...you’re not the only experiments breaking out of their cells tonight”


	12. The Grievers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! I'm unsure of my ability to write action scenes so I hope that the scenes I have written are okay.

Newt had finished letting all the boys out of their rooms and was now stood near Alby as Thomas explained that they were escaping. All the boys were confused and a little scared at first but Thomas noticed they started to settle down as Alby watched them, no doubt using his ability. 

“We need to get out of here” Thomas finished.

“How are we supposed to do that? The doctors are probably watching us right now” A younger boy spoke up.

“The doctors are a little preoccupied” Thomas sighed.

“With what exactly?” Alby asked frowning, Newt also tilted his head in confusion. Thomas hadn’t yet broken the news of the other enhanced.

“We’re not the only ones escaping tonight, they’ve been making creatures” Thomas began, watching as the boys began looking worried again.

“These creatures have been here as long as you have and they are dangerous” Teresa added ignoring the distrusting looks she received.

“She’s telling the truth and she's trying to help us. We need to move quickly” Thomas said urgently.

Thomas indicated towards the hatch and the boys looked around for a second before beginning to filter down the ladder. Alby insisted on going down first to make sure it was safe whilst Newt stayed beside Thomas.Thomas looked up at Teresa as she took off her white coat and threw it aside.

“I’m not one of them” She mumbled, sending Thomas a small smile which he returned.

The three of them made their way down the ladder. Thomas pushed his way through the small crowd with Teresa before beginning to lead them down the corridor. This time Alby stayed towards the back keeping watch whilst Newt and Thomas followed Teresa closely.

The group was cautiously making their way back towards the dining area when suddenly they were plunged into darkness and silence. The alarms had stopped. The lights had gone down. Everyone froze. Thomas felt someone grab his hand, he didn’t know who it was but he gripped their hand tightly nonetheless.

“Teresa? What’s happening?” Thomas whispered.

“Somethings knocked out the power” The reply came from somewhere beside him.

Dim lights began to flicker slightly shedding just enough light for Thomas to see the silhouettes of the boys surrounding him. His hand was released. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as Thomas looked around nervously.

“The emergency lights” Teresa explained the flickering.

“Is everyone okay?” Alby asked from somewhere.

Before anyone could reply a sinister scraping sound began behind them. Thomas turned quickly and squinted trying his best to make out the source. His heart stopped when he did. Stood no more than a meter away from them was what could only be described as a monster. It was a huge bulbous creature with no distinctive shape to its body and with what looked like rods and spikes sticking out of it in all directions. The scraping sound was coming from one of the spikes as it dragged against the wall. No one moved.

“Griever” Teresa whispered.

The Griever quickly sprung into action beginning to roll towards them making a horrible clicking sound as it did. Some of the boys turned and tried to use their abilities, one shot a shard of ice out of his palm but it seemed to bounce off the creature, another let out a bellowing scream that seemed to shake the walls of the lab this caused the creature to slow down but did not stop it. Thomas knew that this creature was stronger than most of them, maybe even all of them.

“Everybody run!” He shouted as he began running himself leading the group away from the creature best he could.

The clicking sound followed the group constantly getting closer. As they reached the first divergence of paths Thomas noticed a slight break in the group as some of the boys including Alby and Ben fell behind slightly. Thomas wanted to stop for them but before he could get the chance an ear piercing screech was heard as the floor beneath them began to crumble. Thomas paused his running to look back and watched with wide eyes as another creature clawed its way out of the ground officially separating the boys into two groups.

“Go! Run!” Thomas yelled desperately to the other group, he watched as Alby quickly led them down the left corridor as the correct route was now blocked by a new creature. This one looked more like a spider with spindly mechanical legs and a long metal tail resembling a scorpions. Thomas watched in horror as this new creature turned and went after Alby, Ben and the other boys. Thomas desperately wanted to help them but the original Griever was still gaining on them so instead he continued to run.

The sounds of shouting voices and screeching Grievers signalled to Thomas that they had reached the dining area. Thomas frowned seeing that the door was no longer there and instead was replaced by a large crumbling hole in the wall. Looking through the hole all he could see was chaos.

The room had been destroyed. Tables had been thrown across the room and now lay scattered, the balcony had half collapsed taking most of the staircase with it and there was now a huge hole in the middle of the floor where parts of the floor were still crumbling away. That was clearly how the Grievers had gotten onto this floor. Speaking of Grievers there were a small group of them now occupying the dining area, both the spider-like ones and the bulbous ones.

Thomas paused at the now destroyed entrance to the dining area which caused the boys behind him to stop too. The group Thomas was leading was now only less than half of the enhanced with some having gone with Alby and the others somewhere within the chaos of the dining area.

“Stay back” Newt warned the other boys, stepping forward and gently pushing them back.

Thomas also stepped forward to stand beside him and surveyed the room. The Grievers had yet to notice them as they were currently too preoccupied surrounding what was left of the balcony. Thomas followed their line of sight and spotted Minho and Gally stood on part of the balcony with Frypan, Chuck and a familiar looking boy whose name Thomas hadn’t yet learned.

“We need to help them get down” Newt said quietly.

“We need to get the Grievers away first” Thomas countered.

“Any ideas on how to do that?” 

“I could distract them?”

“Let me clarify Tommy, any sane ideas?”

Thomas didn’t get a chance to reply as he heard a scraping sound from behind them, he whirled round and suddenly remembered what they had been running from. The Griever was rolling towards them at full speed.

“Move!” Thomas ordered quickly.

The other boys did as they were told and quickly entered the dining room scattering to get out of the way. Newt grabbed Thomas’s arm and quickly moved them both out of the way as the Griever barrelled into the room. All the commotion had attracted the attention of the other Grievers.

A flash of light caught Thomas’s attention. He turned and watched in amazement as flames seemed to be coming from Frypans outstretched hands. This seemed to be occupying some of the Grievers below him. Unfortunately this didn’t distract all of them as two still seemed interested in Thomas and the others. 

Thomas watched in horror as one had spotted Teresa and was now heading straight for her. Teresa backed up quickly but soon she hit a wall and seemed to freeze. Thomas didn’t think twice as he quickly stepped forward.

“Hey! Hey! Over here!” He yelled waving his arms frantically to get the Grievers attention.

Fortunately (Or unfortunately) this seemed to work as the Griever changed direction and began going after Thomas. The boy quickly dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the creature. His landing was less than graceful and he ended up rolling to a stop on the floor. The Griever skidded to a halt and turned towards Thomas seeming to want to try again. Thomas barely got a chance to get up before the Griever pounced on him and pinned him to the ground, he gave a shout of pain as he felt his back hit the floor. Thomas felt a sharp sting as one of the Grievers spikes cut into his shoulder.

“Tommy!” He heard come from somewhere.

Thomas looked up at the Grievers face and saw sharp jagged teeth leaning down towards him. Thomas was about to start fighting back when suddenly a table flew from the right and slammed into the Griever sending it hurtling away from Thomas. The table was glowing red. Thomas sat up quickly and looked around. Newt was stood close by, his hand still held out and his eyes still a dark red. He looked just as shocked at his own actions as Thomas was.

“Thanks” Thomas gasped out as he stood.

Newt nodded finally dropping his hand and his eyes fading back to brown, he fell back against the wall heavily seeming exhausted.Thomas wanted to check on him but he couldn’t as the Grievers who had been trying to get up onto the balcony had given up and turned towards the boys on the ground. Behind them Thomas could see Gally and the others quickly climbing down.

“You’re not going to win against them like this” Teresa appeared beside him.

“We’re going to have to run” Thomas deducted glancing back towards the entrance.

Teresa gave a grave nod. Thomas looked around the room and saw the boys were scattered with Grievers separating them. The others had managed to climb down from the balcony and Thomas could see Minho and Gally were trying to navigate their way across the room safely. Thomas knew they would need a distraction to get everyone out of the room safely. But what? How?

Thomas felt so young and helpless for the first time as panic clouded his thoughts. What could he do? His friends were the ones with the abilities not him and yet he felt like they relied on him. He had started this escape plan when he began getting his friends out of those experiment rooms and now he owed it to them to finish the plan. 

For once it seemed that luck was on his side as the remains of the balcony finally collapsed dragging concrete and metal down with it. 

This was the distraction they needed. This would be their only chance.


	13. Run

“Everybody this way!” Thomas yelled pointing towards the entrance. Everyone began to run.

Adrenaline pumped through Thomas’s veins and his heart hammered in his ears as he ran through the maze of corridors, Teresa was by his side and thundering footsteps followed him. He didn’t dare look back, he could only hope everyone had gotten out of the dining area alive. Thomas gently pushed Teresa ahead signalling for her to start leading them to the way out. 

Soon they reached a dead end with the only route being a left turn, they turned the corner and reached a large metal door Teresa stopped quickly and Thomas followed suit taking this opportunity to turn and make sure everyone was okay. He turned and a feeling of dread pooled in his stomach. 

“No” He murmured as he noticed the group was down to only a handful of boys.

“Not everyone got out” Gally mumbled looking almost ashamed.

Minho, Newt, Chuck, Frypan, Gally and a boy Thomas didn’t know the name of were the only ones left. Thomas felt like a failure as he had sworn to himself he would get everyone out. He looked behind the boys and saw no Grievers, yet.

“Where’s Alby? And Ben? And-” Chuck began asking looking around.

“We’ll go back for them, they took off earlier they should be okay” Thomas said urgently.

“Thomas no! If we don’t leave now, no one will! Teresa said urgently.

“We can’t leave them behind!” Newt spoke up.

“You don’t have a choice” Teresa shook her head.

“You guys get out I’ll go back for them” Thomas began marching back the way they had come.

“I’ll come with you” Minho volunteered following him.

“Wait!” Frypan whispered quickly as he put his hand against Thomas’s chest and peered around the corner.

Thomas frowned and also slowly looked around the corner, he froze when he saw a Griever just a few meters down the corridor. It seemed to be peering down the other routes as if looking for the boys, it had yet to notice the dead end.

“No! No!” Thomas heard Teresa whisper fearfully, he turned and saw her looking towards the door rather than at the Griever.

“What’s wrong?” Newt asked her quietly, trying to appear calm.

“The power is still out so the keypad won’t work” Teresa said as she desperately pressed the keys. 

“What? That Grievers is going to find us! You said you had a way out!” Gally began ranting angrily.

“Gally stop!” Newt warned him quietly, this seemed to work.

“We need to get that door open” Frypan said looking between his friends.

“Gally?” Chuck asked quietly looking up at him, the taller boy sighed looking back towards the door.

“I can try” He said approaching it slowly.

Thomas watched as Gally put his hands on the edge of the door and curled his fingers around it best he could. He then began pulling with all his strength, his muscles tensed under the pressure and the metal began creaking. Thomas slowly peered around the corner again and saw that the Griever had paused but still didn’t seem to be looking in their direction. Any more noise and they could be found.

Gally gritted his teeth and tugged against the door even more, the metal was creaking but the door barely budged clearly built to keep them out. Thomas glanced back wishing there was a way past those Grievers so he could help everyone else, unfortunately there wasn’t. 

“They’re going to hear us” Chuck whispered fearfully.

A crack began to form as the door slowly came away from the wall, Gally continued to pull against it. The creaking only grew louder and Thomas didn’t have to look to know that the Griever could hear them. Clicking and scraping could be heard approaching the group. 

Frypan stepped forward and held out his hand ready to protect the group. Thomas could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he curled his hands into fists. He barely registered the slight sting of his nails digging into his palm. He watched as Minho gently pushed Chuck behind him trying to keep the boy away from the advancing danger.

A sharp metal leg curled around the corner digging into the wall, it seemed to drag the rest of the Griever into view. Thomas stumbled backwards as ball of flames appeared in Frypans palm the orange glow reflected in his eyes. He held it for a second before the flames shot towards the Griever, this was followed by a continuous flow of fire straight from his palm. The creature screeched and this seemed to slow it down, for now.

“Gally open the door!” Frypan shouted. Thomas was sure that if the circumstances were different Gally would have snapped back.

A loud clang was heard as the locks finally snapped and clattered to the ground. Gally pushed the remains of the door aside. Frypan took a few steps back his hand shaking slightly as he continued to struggle holding the Griever back.

“Lets go!” Gally exclaimed.

Thomas made sure that Chuck and Teresa went through the door first, they were then followed by the nameless boy. Thomas reached out to put his hand on Frypans tense shoulder.

“Come on” He encouraged him.

“If I stop it will just follow us” Frypan spoke through a clenched jaw and gritted teeth.

“You need to stop” Minho said seeing how exhausted Frypan was becoming.

Thomas gently pulled Frypan back and the remaining group slowly edged back towards the door. Soon Frypan couldn’t hold the Griever back any longer and he dropped his hand, the fire extinguishing. The charred Griever was relentless and pursued the group again. Thomas saw a flash of red in the corner of his eyes and turned to see Newt creating a small ball of red energy between his fingers, he seemed to play with it passing it between his two hands before he launched it, pitching it like a baseball, towards the Griever sending the creature hurtling back into the wall.

“Go!” Newt said quickly pulling his friends towards the door whilst the Griever slowly recovered.

Thomas ran for what felt like the thousandth time bursting into the doctors quarters, Teresa and the other boys were waiting for them. Soon Teresa began leading them down yet another long corridor before they reached a set of stairs towards another door that was of course locked.

“Is there even the slightest chance that they left it unlocked?” Minho asked.

“No we’ll need to open it by force again” Teresa explained looking towards Gally.

“I don’t know if I can” Gally panted wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Anyone have any ideas?” Thomas asked.

“I might” Minho spoke up looking back the way they had come.

“Why do I already have the feeling that this is a bad idea?” Newt asked stepping closer to Minho.

“You know me too well” Minho supplied with a smile before he turned to address the group as a whole.

“Stand back against the walls, I’m going to need some room”

Thomas noticed that although the boys seemed sceptical they immediately did what Minho said, obviously trusting him. Thomas trusted him too and he did the same, pinning himself back against the wall. Teresa watched Minho curiously for a second before her eyes widened and she quickly stood against the wall herself.

Minho took a deep breath and did one last check to make sure everyone had done as he’d asked. Then suddenly Thomas felt a breeze go past him and Minho was gone. Thomas leaned his head back against the wall closing his eyes for a second, everything was going so fast and they were losing people constantly he just needed it all to slow down. He opened his eyes when he felt a hand land on his arm he looked to his right and saw it was Chuck who was holding him.The gesture brought Thomas back to the scene and helped slow his thoughts. It seemed to comfort them both.

“Here we go” Gally muttered from the opposite wall.

The sound of footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the room followed by a rumbling sound with the occasional clicking. Thomas closed his eyes and felt the wall behind him shake as a crash echoed throughout the room. Thomas dared to crack one eye open and saw Minho kneeling down on the ground just in front of the gaping hole in the wall where there was once a door.

“Good job Minho” Newt praised him, leaning down to place a hand on his arm and help him up.

“The Griever did all the hard work” Minho joked as he allowed Newt to help him up.

Thomas stepped forward and looked out the hole to see the Griever was laying in a heap with the remains of the door crushed underneath it. Minho had tricked the Griever into chasing him then caused the creature to crash through the door. Thomas had to admire his friends quick thinking.

“Look” Chuck suddenly whispered stepping through the hole in the wall. Thomas followed him and squinted slightly as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of a cliffhanger I guess, sorry about that.


	14. The outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter!   
> Warning: small mention of blood and a small wound during this chapter during Thomas and Minho's conversation.

A cold breeze ruffled through his hair and the smell of rain invaded his senses. Thomas could hear nothing but the soft crunch of his shoes on grass and the whistle of the wind. The night made it difficult to see but Thomas could tell they were surrounded by trees, all seeming to lead to this clearing with the lab underneath it. The only visible parts of the building were the tall cylinder which housed their old rooms and the small square building which was the part of the doctors quarters they had exited from.

“Where are we?”

“In a forest I guess”

“Where do we go?”

“Anywhere far away from here”

Thomas looked up towards the sky and noticed the moon was shining in the distance. It all seemed so...normal? His scrambled memories told him that everything seemed so ordinary, the trees were thriving, the grass was lush and the moon was like a spotlight highlighting the world around them. Thomas didn’t know what he had expected, the world at an end? That would have explained why people had been allowed to experiment on them, on children, but the world wasn’t ending, was it?

“Come on, we need to get out of the open” Teresa announced as she looked around nervously.

Teresa took off running towards the trees and the boys quickly followed her. Thomas looked back towards the the lab wishing he would see the other enhanced following them but he didn’t. Instead he just saw a prison that was crumbling under the Grievers.

Once they had entered the cover of the trees the group came to a stop as Teresa turned to address the group.

“I don’t know much about the world except for what they told me” She began.

“What did they tell you?” Thomas prompted.

“That it’s fallen to chaos, people are dying or forming groups to stay safe”

“Safe from what?” Gally asked.

“I don’t know, they mentioned a sickness but never explained it” 

“This place doesn’t look very chaotic” Minho commented looking around.

“I know, but why would they lie?” Teresa frowned beginning to doubt her own knowledge.

“The doctors? Lying? Yeah it’s so out of character” Gally spat sarcastically.

“Look, whether they’re lying or not we still need to be careful. If they find us again they’ll experiment on us again” Thomas explained.

“We should keep moving then, use the cover of the night whilst we still have it” Teresa said once again beginning to lead the group through the trees.

Thomas wasn’t sure what they would find out in the world but he hoped that they would be safer out there than back in that lab. Surely they would be, what could be worse than doctors and Grievers? Thomas hoped they’d never find out.

***  
It was hours later when the group finally stopped to rest. They were still deep within the woods and had yet to find a way out of them. The group all sat scattered across a small clearing which was cut in half by a thin fresh water river. They were surrounded by trees and the only light source was coming from the small gap in the leaves above.

Thomas sat near the edge of the clearing leaning back against a tree. He looked towards the sky and saw dawn was finally upon them. Orange and red bled across the sky finally giving colour to the world. The colours danced across the surface of the water running by them. For the first time the atmosphere was tranquil.

“Hi” A soft voice cut through the sounds of running water and early morning birds.

Thomas forced his eyes away from the sky to look towards the source of the voice. Newt was now sitting down beside him giving him a gentle smile. His dark eyes looked golden with the reflection of the rising sun.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you” Newt added hugging his knees to his chest.

“You didn’t, I was just thinking” Thomas smiled back at his friend.

“Yeah I could tell. You looked peaceful”

The two boys fell silent. Their eyes were drawn towards the running water and the light dancing on the surface. Birds continued to tweet and flap their wings high above them oblivious to the death and destruction that had taken place just miles away in the lab.

Thomas could feel the guilt gnawing at his chest as he thought back to the lab and all the people they had left behind. He had no idea whether Alby or Ben or any of that other group had gotten out. He should have made sure everyone escaped, he should have come up with a better plan or waited longer. Or even if he had been able to use an ability of his own. So many ‘what ifs’ swirled in his mind.

“Tommy” Thomas turned his attention back to Newt and saw the blonde watching him curiously.

“Yeah?”

“It’s not your fault” Newt said quietly.

“What?” Thomas was taken aback by the way Newt had seemed to read his mind.

“Not everyone getting out, it’s not your fault”

Thomas sighed and looked down, twirling a blade of grass with his fingers. He remained silent for a few seconds and Newt just sat patiently waiting for him to speak. When Thomas looked up again he saw Newt giving him a soft encouraging look.

“I just wish I’d been able to help them” He muttered.

“You can’t save everyone” 

“Maybe I could if I had abilities, like you” Thomas admitted, Newt frowned at him.

“I couldn’t help them either, these abilities don’t make us better” 

“You’re stronger than me”

“No, I’m not” Newt reached out and put his hand on Thomas’s.

“There was nothing we could have done against those Grievers, they were made to be stronger than us. We all did our best and I hold out hope that Alby helped his group get out like you helped us”

Thomas looked up at Newt feeling a slight tremor from his hold. Despite the shaking Newt held a strong demeanour. Thomas stayed quiet, this time allowing Newt to speak.

“We’re not the ones to blame, those people at the lab are. Thank you for helping us escape.” Newt squeezed Thomas’s hand gently and Thomas squeezed back. A few seconds of silence passed.

“I should go check on Chuck” Newt finally said, pulling his hand away and standing up.He began to walk away, after a few steps he paused and turned back to Thomas.

“Thomas, I think you’re a lot stronger than I’ll ever be with or without an ability” Newt walked away heading towards the centre of the clearing where Chuck was sitting and talking to Aris (Thomas had learned the final boys name during their walk from the lab).

Thomas reflected on Newts words feeling the guilt begin to ease slightly, not completely of course but Thomas felt he could breathe a little easier. Fortunately he didn’t get too long to fall back into his chaotic thought process as Minho seemed to appear from nowhere. 

“Hey I brought you some water” Minho said casually leaning against the tree Thomas sat by. He held a small metal black pot with water inside.

“Oh thanks” Thomas stood and took the pot from Minho, he studied the water in it for a second.

“If I was going to poison you I’d take a more subtle approach” Minho joked nudging Thomas.

“Oh! No I didn’t think you were!” Thomas said quickly not wanting to offend him.

“Don’t worry shank I’m joking” Minho gave him a warm smile and Thomas smiled back.

“I was just wondering where you got drinkable water from” Thomas explained.

“The river. I collected it and Frypan boiled it to get rid of any nasty stuff” Minho briefly explained pointing at Frypan who was still kneeling by the river seemingly waiting for Minho to bring the pot back.

“And I found the pot just laying on the ground a few meters that way” Minho pointed generally in the direction they had come from.

“Thank you” Thomas repeated taking a big drink of the water only now noticing how thirsty he was. Minho nodded and waited patiently for Thomas to finish his drink glancing down at Thomas he seemed to pause and frown.

“You’re injured?” Minho asked.

Thomas finished his drink and wiped his mouth before he followed Minho’s line of sight and saw a patch of blood on his shirt hovering over where the Griever had cut his shoulder. Thomas also frowned not remembering feeling any pain after the attack and even now he seemed numb.

“I-I guess?” He said awkwardly.

“Want me to look at it? See how bad it is?” Minho offered.

Thomas nodded unsure what else to do. Minho motioned for Thomas to sit down once again and he did as he was told. Minho sat down in front of him and reached forward tugging Thomas’s shirt collar down so his shoulder was exposed. Thomas awkwardly fiddled with the black pot during the contact. Minho inspected the wound for a few seconds humming as he thought before he nodded seeming to come to some kind of conclusion.

“Well the good news is you’re not dying” Minho joked seeming to try and lighten the tone.

“I needed your expert opinion for that conclusion?” Thomas tried to joke back beginning to get used to Minho’s gentle teasing.

“Yup call me doctor Minho” 

“Okay doctor what should I do then?” Thomas played along beginning to feel more at ease.

“Well it doesn’t look too bad just a small cut but theres alot of dried blood and dirt around it that needs cleaning” Minho explained properly.

“I could clean it up?” Minho then offered.

Thomas nodded and Minho stood taking the black pot from Thomas’s hands and walking back towards the river and Frypan. 

As Thomas waited a few minutes for Minho to return he began looking around the clearing trying to locate everyone. He found Newt sat with Chuck and Aris in the centre like they had been before and Frypan and Minho by the river as expected. Teresa seemed to be circling the clearing collecting what looked like berries from nearby bushes in her hand. Thomas guessed that would be their breakfast. Gally was sat by himself on the opposite side of the clearing staring down at the ground, he had a stick in his hand which he seemed to be stabbing into the dirt. Except for maybe Gally everyone seemed to be okay and getting on with their self designated roles in the group. Thomas wondered if they felt as guilty as he did.

Minho walked back over to Thomas with the black pot once again full of water, he sat down in front of Thomas and pulled his shirt out of the way again. Thomas stayed still and allowed him to work. Minho ripped a bit of his own shirt off at the bottom and dunked it in the water before he began to clean the blood away.

“How did you know what to do? About my shoulder I mean” Thomas asked to strike up conversation.

“Clint and Jeff, back at the lab they spent a lot of time in the medical room helping us with small injuries we got during training. Whenever they worked they’d explain all the basics saying it was important we all knew” Minho explained with a fond smile on his face.

“One of the first things to do is to clean the wound but in this case it’s the only thing we can do without any medical supplies” He added.

“Do you think they’re okay? Clint and Jeff?” Thomas asked cautiously, the smile slipped from Minho’s face but he kept his eyes on Thomas’s shoulder.

“Yeah” Minho gave a short answer and Thomas took it not wanting to push him. 

“Everyone seems so calm, like nothing has happened” Thomas said.

“They’re all just dealing with this differently, they’re not calm but not everyone freaks out so obviously” Minho explained.

Thomas nodded glancing around the clearing again, he knew Minho was right. They all probably had similar thoughts to Thomas racing through their heads. Minho sat back and dipped the blood and dirt covered piece of cloth back into the water.

“It’s done” He said, Thomas looked down and saw the small cut on his shoulder now looking much better.

“Thank you” He said.

“You don’t have to thank me, we all look out for each other” Minho smiled at him before dumping the dirty water out and standing up.

“Come on, you can get off your lazy butt and help Frypan and I find something better to carry water in” Minho began heading back towards the river.

Thomas scrambled to his feet and adjusted his shirt to cover his wound once again. Following Minho to the river Thomas took a deep breath and pushed his worry and guilt to the back of his mind. For now he had to focus on helping his friends stay safe and alive.


	15. Journeying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Hope you enjoy!  
> Thank you to those who have left kudos it means a lot and thank you to Thiff for commenting :)  
> Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter I wanted to give Thomas the chance to interact with his new companions before things get out of control again.

After a breakfast of black berries and an extremely lucky find of a metal water canister the group was on the move once again. Thomas passed the canister full of water between his hands as he walked, contemplating its existence. His dirt covered nails tapped against the metal as he thought.

“Are you going to be doing that the whole time?” Gally spat from behind Thomas.

“Doing what?” Thomas asked rolling his eyes whilst Gally couldn’t see him.

“Existing” Thomas heard Gally mutter under his breath, he chose to ignore him but did stop the tapping.

Thomas glanced down at the canister almost suspiciously. He didn’t remember many details about the world but he did remember that things like pots and canisters were not just lying around in a forest. So why had they found them? Luck? That’s what Chuck had suggested and Thomas would normally agree with his friends but so far in their experience the group had been anything but lucky.

The group continued to walk through the woods not seeing much other than trees around them. The wind began to pick up and Thomas let out a laugh as Teresa’s dark hair was blown into her face. Teresa saw Thomas watching her and shook her head pushing her hair back, she slowed down her pace to walk beside him.

“Sorry” Thomas smiled at her as she finally fixed her hair.

“It’s okay, it’s nice to see people laughing for once” She replied with a small smile of her own.

“Do you think the whole world is like this? Just trees and grass?” Thomas asked looking around, he was beginning to get sick of seeing the colour green.

“No, they made the world sound so chaotic and everything about this place just seems peaceful” She said.

Thomas nodded looking forward he spotted Newt just ahead of them. He was walking with Chuck listening as the younger boy chatted away to him. Thomas noticed Newt seemed to be smiling when he glanced down at Chuck. It was sweet. 

“Come on Gally keep up!” Thomas turned his head as he heard Minho begin to bother the brooding boy who had allowed himself to fall towards the back of the group.

“We can’t all run at the speed of light Minho” Aris joked walking beside Gally as Minho ran laps around them.

“I can’t do that...yet” Minho stopped running and settled for walking just in front of Gally and Aris.

Thomas chuckled softly at his antics. He could see that Minho was trying to lift everyone's spirits, he had been since they’d gotten out of the lab and for the most part it was working as people seemed more at ease and began to smile. Except for Gally who had wanted to be left alone, he seemed to be putting up with Aris’s company begrudgingly. 

“Where are we going anyway?” Minho called ahead to Frypan who seemed to be leading the group.

“Hopefully somewhere safe” Frypan called back.

“The doctors mentioned some groups that have been formed and by the sounds of it they aren’t on the best terms with the lab” Teresa said.

“So you think we should try to find one of those groups?” Thomas asked her, she shrugged.

“I think it’s our best option”

“We don’t even know where to look” Aris said frowning.

“We can start by getting out of these woods, maybe we’ll reach a city or something” Teresa suggested.

Minho nodded and caught up to Newt nudging him playfully to get his attention before the two began talking. Thomas strained his ears curious to hear what they were discussing but they were being too quiet. Minho glanced behind and spotted Thomas watching, he then linked arms with Newt and pulled him ahead seeming eager to get further ahead. Thomas blushed slightly at being caught. Chuck now trotted behind Newt and Minho. The slightly playful atmosphere simply reminded Thomas that they were all supposed to be young and carefree, instead they were burdened with shared trauma and a lack of memories.

Thomas glanced behind him to see Aris and Gally again, he gave Aris a curious look as he had yet to find out his ability. Thomas was tempted to ask but he didn’t want to offend the boy. Teresa glanced at Thomas then looked towards Aris. 

“Do you have an ability?” She asked him bluntly. Thomas turned to give her a bewildered look but he kept quiet, eager to hear the answer.

“Yeah” Aris shrugged and didn’t expand on that, Thomas turned and began walking backwards so he could face Aris.

“Can I ask…?” He trailed off awkwardly, Aris sighed but nodded. 

“I can shapeshift but only into animals and only for a short amount of time” Aris explained.

“What kinds of animals?” Thomas asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Small things like mice or little birds” Aris explained.

“That’s sounds-” Thomas cut himself off with a yelp as he tripped over a root and fell backwards, he prepared to land painfully in a heap when suddenly he stopped. He looked around and found himself surrounded by the colour red. He tilted his head back to see Newt holding his hand out having created what felt like a cushion of energy, preventing Thomas from hitting the ground.

“Thanks” Thomas said in surprise, Newt smiled and lowered his hand gently lowering Thomas to the ground with it.

“That was a pretty quick reaction” Teresa said raising one eyebrow, Newt just shrugged looking away.

“I think Gally almost smiled then” Minho teased, the commotion having grabbed his attention.

“Not quite” Gally shrugged stepping over Thomas and continuing to walk.

“Careful Thomas, there are tree roots everywhere” Frypan called back with a chuckle, he didn’t even stop to glance around.

Thomas chuckled and heaved himself up off the ground brushing himself off. He looked around and saw the group had continued on their journey once again and he hurried to keep up. Thomas looked around in thought. For some reason, looking around at this group of people (even Gally) Thomas felt like they would be okay.


	16. The cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy :)

“Hey guys! I think I see a way out of here!” 

“Chuck wait up!”

The group hurried to catch up with the young boy who had wandered ahead whilst the others were taking a break. Minho, of course, reached Chuck first whilst the others struggled to keep up. Thomas panted as he skidded to a halt spotting Chuck and Minho, he approached them more slowly his eyes focused on his friends.

“Woah” Thomas heard Newt whisper as the boy appeared beside him, Thomas shot him a curious look before following his line of sight.

“Holy shit” Thomas murmured as he looked ahead.

The group had come to the edge of the woods and found themselves blinded by the contrast of colour. Ahead of them was a desert. Or at least that's what Thomas first thought when he spotted the colour yellow but this was different. The terrain was uneven and it seemed like sand covered mountains of stone were in every direction. Spiralling down these mountains were crystal blue waterfalls all seeming to lead to the vast, deep blue lake that sat in the middle of these mountains. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this” Frypan commented placing his hands on his hips.

Thomas looked between the forest and the sand taken aback by the jarring change in view. He stepped forward and suddenly noticed that there was a divider between the two worlds. A fence ran along the edge of the woods separating them from the sand. The fence wasn’t very tall and only seemed to have wires running horizontally between the wooden posts. Thomas wondered why they were there, who were they meant to stop?

Thomas took another step forward and reached out to touch the fence, it seemed like it would be easy enough for them to climb over. The rest of the group were still marvelling at their surroundings as Thomas’s hand was mere inches away from the wires.

“Thomas wait!” He heard Teresa shout but it was too late as his hand made contact with the fence.

Thomas felt a searing burning pain spread up his arm and encase his entire body. He fell to the ground his hands shaking almost violently. Thomas stared up at the sky unable to comprehend what had just happened.

“Tommy!” Newt entered Thomas’s line of sight as the blonde knelt down next to him.

“What the hell happened?” Thomas heard Minho ask, the dark haired boy then also knelt down by Thomas.

“Electric fence” Teresa answered.

“What?” Frypan asked.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Chuck asked.

“I don’t know the voltage is high enough to hold off-”Teresa cut herself off.

“Hold off what?” Gally demanded angrily.

“Hey, you’re gonna be okay. I’ve got you” Newt murmured to Thomas looking down at him.

Thomas nodded weakly still feeling a burning sensation all over his body, the conversation between the group was becoming muffled as Thomas felt his eyes growing heavy. He let his eyes close completely.

“Tommy? Wake up!” Was the last thing he heard.

***

The first thing Thomas felt when he came to was a gentle hand running through his hair. He opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of a stone ceiling, water was dripping down from it landing just beside his face. Thomas looked around a bit more and was hit with a wave of déjà vu as he found his head resting in Newts lap.

“Newt?” He spoke with a croaky voice. Newt jumped and looked down having not noticed Thomas wake up.

“Hi” Newt spoke in a soft voice, giving Thomas a reassuring smile. 

Thomas slowly began to sit up, Newt helped him up and once Thomas was sat beside him Newt moved forward and hugged him tightly. Thomas froze for a second before he melted into the warm embrace and hugged the boy back. 

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked still holding him close, Newt let out a laugh and gently pulled back.

“You’re asking if I’m okay? I should be asking you” Newt said, Thomas shrugged and looked away.

Now that he was more awake Thomas began studying at his surroundings. Every direction he looked he could see stone and it didn’t take him long to figure out he was in some kind of cave. It was fairly dark, the only light source being the a large hole just above them that let in daylight. They must have been pretty far into the cave because despite the light Thomas couldn’t see the outside.

“What happened?” Thomas finally asked bringing his eyes back to Newt.

“You touched an electric fence.” Newt explained.

“Oh” Was all Thomas could mutter.

“I-we were all really worried about you” Newt added.

“I’m sorry. I should have thought before touching the fence, I didn’t know it was electric” Thomas insisted.

“It’s okay, what matters is you're awake now” Newt reached over and picked up Thomas’s hand, inspecting it best he could in the dim light.

“Teresa said once you were awake I should-” Newt paused frowning in confusion down at Thomas’s hand.

“What’s wrong?” Thomas asked resisting the urge to wrench his hand away and examine it himself.

“There are no marks” Newt muttered.

“No marks?” Thomas asked.

“Teresa said an electrocution like that would at the very least leave burns or even scars but...there’s nothing” 

“Maybe I got lucky?” Thomas suggested awkwardly, it almost sounded like a bad thing.

“I guess” Newt said still looking perplexed for a second before he shook it off and looked back up at Thomas.

“I’m just glad you’re okay” He smiled and Thomas realised he was really beginning to like the sight of Newts smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay too” Thomas said, Newt tilted his head and smiled giving a short nod. 

“So where are we exactly?” Thomas finally asked.

“We’re in a cave behind one of the waterfalls” Newt explained looking around, Thomas smiled slightly when he noticed Newt was still absentmindedly holding his onto his hand.

Newt looked around before his eyes landed on something laying on the floor about a meter away. He held out his hand and lifted something silver. The red colour of his telekinesis provided extra light in the cave and allowed Thomas to identify the object as the canister he had been holding before the incident. Newt gently let it drop into Thomas’s lap. Thomas took the hint and began sipping the water in it. 

“Newt! Newt!” A voice called out. Thomas looked up and saw a small silhouette now blocking the light in the small entrance.

“Chuck? Are you okay?” Newt called over to him finally letting go of Thomas’s hand, the young boy jumped down into their little section of the cave and hurried over.

“Thomas! You’re awake!” Thomas almost dropped the canister as Chuck launched himself at him, pulling Thomas into a hug. Thomas couldn’t help but smile as he hugged back.

“Careful Chuck” Newt gently reprimanded the boy, causing him to pull away.

“Sorry I’m just glad you’re not dead” Chuck said to Thomas now kneeling in front of him.

“It’s okay Chuck” Thomas said placing the canister down beside him.

“Chuck? Did you have something to tell me?” Newt asked him.

“Oh! Yes! The others are arguing again” Chuck said quickly.

Newt cursed under his breath before he stood up and quickly hurried to the entrance, he climbed up the wall slightly and went out through the entrance. Thomas frowned and began to stand himself.

“Arguing? Again? Chuck what’s going on?” Thomas asked quickly.

“They’ve been at it since you passed out, it’s a miracle we even managed to get to this cave” Chuck said picking up the canister and standing himself.

“How did you get me here?” Thomas asked curiously.

“Gally, it turns out he can multitask because he managed to carry you and keep the argument going” Chuck huffed shaking his head at the memory. For a second Thomas felt touched that Gally had carried him despite their differences.

The sound of raised voices caught Thomas’s attention and he quickly made his way over to the entrance. At first he struggled to climb out, unsure how the others were doing, it until he spotted the rocks jutting out of the wall. He used them as stepping stones and climbed out of the entrance, squinting at the bright light. He was almost apprehensive to see his friends, unsure what he was about to walk into.


	17. Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! Thank you for the kudos, bookmarks and comments :)

He looked ahead and saw the mouth of the cave just a couple of meters away. It was covered by a curtain of water that Thomas assumed was the waterfall. Stood inside the cave just in front of the water were his friends. Teresa was sat on a rock looking up towards Gally who was pacing back and forth ranting about something. Newt stood between the two trying to speak to Gally. Aris and Minho also seemed to be arguing whilst Frypan stood by shaking his head.

“She’s a traitor!” Gally shouted.

“You need to calm down!” Newt replied.

“She kept things from us! Things that put our lives at risk! How are we supposed to be calm?” Aris shouted back at Newt.

“Aris back off!!” Minho snapped at Aris crossing his arms.

“If you would just let me explain-” Teresa began, sounding angry herself before Gally cut her off.

“No explanation will change the fact that you lied to us!”

Thomas had heard enough. He approached the group quickly with Chuck hot on his tail, the others didn’t seem to notice his presence so he took the metal canister from Chuck’s hands and repeatedly banged it against the stone wall of the cave. The loud clanging grabbed everyone's attention.

“What is going on?” Thomas asked, dropping the canister.

“Thomas?” Teresa seemed surprised to see him.

“Good to see you awake again” Frypan said with a friendly tone, Thomas nodded at him before looking around expectantly. 

“You want to know what’s happening? She lied to us” Gally spat stopping directly in front of Teresa and looking down at her.

“Lied to us about what?” Thomas asked cautiously glancing between the two.

“I didn’t lie!” Teresa insisted.

“You told us you knew practically nothing about the world!” Gally countered, Teresa sighed and put her head in her hands.

“Can someone please explain what this is about?” Thomas huffed growing irritated with the lack of an answer.

“Teresa forgot to mention the fact that the lab wasn’t the only place filled with dangerous creatures. They’re out in the world too” Aris explained.

“And Gally still hasn’t let it go” Minho said.

“For a good reason Minho!” Gally snapped back.

“I just think we have more important things to worry about. Rather than fighting about it we need to stick together!” Minho replied.

“What kind of creatures?” Thomas spoke directly to Teresa.

“They called them Cranks” Teresa began cautiously, Gally scoffed and began to pace again only stopping when Newt gently grabbed his wrist.

“They were human once but a sickness spread, it changed them, made them into monsters that kill” Teresa continued.

“Where are these Cranks now?” Thomas asked trying to remain calm.

“Everywhere, they could never be contained, the only way to stay safe is to get somewhere they can’t reach you” 

“Good thing we’re out in the open then” Minho said sarcastically though with little venom in is tone.

“That’s not all, this sickness affected almost everything it touched not just humans. There are some twisted creatures out there” Teresa said gravely.

“Why did you keep this from us?” Newt asked calmly.

“Because, despite everything, I know you’re much safer out here than in that lab and I thought if you knew what was out here you wouldn’t have left” Teresa explained, Gally scoffed.

“So you manipulated us into leaving” He said.

“I was trying to help you!” Teresa insisted.

“Why? Why do you care so much?” Gally’s question caused Teresa to hesitate.

Teresa didn’t get a chance to reply as a series of short sharp bangs echoed around them. Thomas flinched and immediately ducked on instinct, the group followed his example. The noise stopped as quickly as it had started and the group remained close to the ground.

“What was that?” Chuck whispered shakily. No one replied and another few seconds of silence passed before Newt whispered.

“Wait here”

Thomas was horrified to realise Newt was slowly getting up and making his way closer to the entrance. Thomas immediately got up and followed him, Newt looked back and shook his head but dared not argue and draw attention to their hideout. Instead he looked back at the water and held out his hand creating a red shield that caught the water, allowing them to walk under it whilst remaining dry. The two peaked out of the cave cautiously and looked around. All Thomas could see was the mountains towering over and surrounding them. There was no movement so the two stepped further out the cave to get a better look. There was a small strip of stone running along the edge of the lake which the two stood on.

“HELP!” A screeching voice bounced between the mountains causing Thomas to flinch.

“Where did that come from?” Newt asked looking around. 

“HELP ME!” The same voice screeched again.

“Who the hell is that?” Minho asked suddenly appearing at Thomas’s side.

“I don’t know but we have to help them right?” Thomas said.

“No we don’t, we should stay away” Gally spoke up standing at the mouth of the cave.

“But whoever she is she clearly needs our help!” Thomas insisted.

“HELP!” Thomas huffed and began walking along the strip of stone heading in the direction that he thought the screams could be coming from.

“Tommy wait!” Newt whispered loudly finally dropping his shield and allowing the waterfall to drop back down to the ground. He hurried after Thomas.

“What? Are we going on a rescue mission now?” Minho asked also following them.

“Gally, keep everyone else safe” Newt called back to Gally who was still stood by the cave looking both furious and concerned simultaneously. 

“Thomas do you even have a plan?” Minho whispered loudly.

“I’m working on one” Thomas replied, his eyes rapidly scanning the mountains.

“Oh, that makes me feel better” Minho replied sarcastically.

Thomas paused as they came across what looked like steps carved into the stone between two of the mountains, they led upwards towards the top of one of the smaller mountains. He had no idea what was up there but he was sure the only way to find out where the screaming was coming from was to keep going. He began to ascend the steps when a hand on his arm tugged him and forced him to turn around.

“Tommy just stop and think about this for a minute” Newt pleaded looking up into Thomas’s eyes. Thomas did stop and the concern Newts brown eyes made him want to turn back.

“It’s not safe, we have no idea what we’re walking in to” Newt continued.

Thomas bit his lip in thought. He knew Newt was right, the world was apparently dangerous and they had no way to prepare for whatever was happening. But, the sound of the poor girl screaming had made Thomas’s heart stop, whoever it was sounded terrified and if Thomas could help in anyway he knew he had to. The only reason Thomas was free from that lab was because of a kind stranger who helped him, he should do the same.

“I’m sorry Newt but I can’t ignore someone shouting for help” Thomas gently removed Newts hand from his arm and squeezed it.

“You two don’t have to come with me you can stay with the others and protect them” He added.

“I’m not letting you go alone” Newt said squeezing Thomas’s hand back.

“I don’t want to put you both in danger” Thomas argued.

“I think we’re pretty much always in danger” Minho joked before adding. “I meant what I said about sticking together, we’ll help you” Minho reached out and patted Thomas’s shoulder.

“Thank you” Thomas smiled at them both.

He glanced back towards the cave where Gally still stood watching them before he began ascending the steps. Newt and Minho followed him closely and the group remained silent as they walked. It didn’t take long for the boys to reach the top of the steps and once they had Thomas immediately began looking around for any signs of the woman in danger.


	18. New faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! :)  
> Thank you for the kudos, comments and bookmarks they are very appreciated!  
> I apologise for the shorter chapter this time.

“Woah, Thomas look” Minho called to him and Thomas looked in his direction.

Minho was looking out at the world from their now high vantage point. Thomas followed his gaze and was stunned. It was beautiful. Below them was a vast crystal blue ocean that seemed to go on for miles, waves gently lapped up against the rocks below them. To their left was a path that lead them onward, allowing them to walk along the cliff side and listen to the peaceful water. The uneven landscape prevented them from being able to see where the path would take them but Thomas was itching to find out.

“The water is so beautiful” Newt murmured more to himself as he seemed transfixed on the waves.

“Yeah” Thomas murmured watching him.

“Bullet holes” Minho suddenly said, Thomas turned his attention to him and found the boy kneeling beside a tall damaged rock.

“That must be what we heard” Thomas concluded.

“Seems strange, there’s no body or blood” Newt said having finally drawn his attention away from the water.

“You sound disappointed” Minho teased. 

“I’m not it's just...it seems suspicious, why would someone be shooting at nothing?” Newt questioned.

“To lure someone into a trap” A foreign voice spoke.

Thomas froze as he felt something cold and circular being pushed up against the back of his head. Minho quickly spun around and his eyes landed on whoever was behind Thomas for a split second before he yelped in pain and crumpled to the ground. Stood behind him was a large man in dark clothing, the bottom half of his face was covered with a black bandana and he still had the butt of his gun raised. Thomas deducted he must have been hiding behind the rock.

“Minho!” Newt immediately went to kneel down beside the boy.

“Don’t move!” The voice from behind Thomas spat, it was female. Thomas flinched as he felt what he assumed as a gun move from the back of his head to be pushed against his temple.

“What do you want?” Thomas spat as Newt slowly backed up from Minho his eyes never leaving the person who held Thomas hostage.

“Do you have any weapons?” The man stood over Minho asked, his gun pointed towards Newt who barely glanced at it.

“No we have nothing!” Thomas insisted.

“Don’t lie to us” The woman spat. Thomas winced as she grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back with her one arm. Minho groaned in pain on the ground and began slowly trying to get up, the man moved his gun to aim it down towards the boy.

“Leave them alone” Newt murmured quietly.

Thomas glanced over to the blonde and frowned when he noticed Newt’s eyes were red rather than brown. Newts hands were glowing slightly as red energy danced around them. Suddenly, Newt opened his hand and swiped outward ripping the gun from the woman's hand and launching it a few meters away. Just as quickly Minho kicked out swiping the man's legs from underneath and sending him to the ground, before Thomas could even blink Minho was stood with his foot on the man’s legs holding him down.

“They’re wicked’s freaks!” The woman cried finally coming into Thomas’s view as she went for the gun, she was dressed identically to the man.

The woman’s cry must have been some kind of signal because as soon as it left her mouth more men and women emerged from behind rocks all dressed in black and all armed. Suddenly Thomas, Minho and Newt found themselves surrounded with almost a dozen guns pointed towards them. Thomas could see both his friends trying to calculate a way out of this but it seemed there were now too many for even them to deal with.

“Restrain them, they’re coming with us” One man spoke up and just as suddenly a couple of women stepped forward pulling silver handcuffs from their pockets.

Thomas looked down at the handcuffs and they clicked into place around his wrists. He noticed a glowing blue strip of light that wrapped around the handcuffs. Minho began to struggle as the first cuff was clicked into place, Thomas watched as he tried to run but was easily stopped by a man stood behind him. This made Thomas frown, surely Minho should have been quick enough to avoid the man's hands. Minho seemed equally confused.

“Like ‘em? These cuffs are made ‘specially for you freaks” The man Minho had previously knocked to the ground smirked.

“What does that mean?” Newt asked glaring back at the man, Thomas was almost impressed by his forwardness. 

“Didn’t they make you smart enough to figure that out for yourself?” The man spat back before he looked around at his group and whistled.

“Bring them with us” He ordered and Thomas felt himself be grabbed and forced to walk forward.

Thomas took a deep breath in prepared to scream for his friends back at the cave to help but before he could he spotted Newt subtly shaking his head, willing him not to. Thomas paused and frowned in confusion for a second before it dawned on him, Newt didn’t want the gang to know about their friends location. Thomas gave him a subtle nod in agreement and begrudgingly walked with the group dreading finding out where they were being taken.


	19. Trapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! I apologise if any characters are behaving out of character I have written them in a way that fits the story. :)

The three boys were led down the path that ran beside the water. It felt like they had been walking for hours but really it could only have been forty minutes at most. The rocky cliffs and the crystal water were the only things in sight for most of the journey, that was until they came to a building. It was made of rotting wood and seemed to be one gust of wind away from collapsing. It was tall and lopsided with few windows and only one door. There were three floors.

Thomas remained quiet as the three were dragged into the building. Inside was a bare room except for a big table in the middle of it and a rotting staircase in the back corner. On the table seemed to be a map but Thomas didn’t get a good look at it before he was dragged past the table. The men and women who weren’t dragging the three boys began gathering around the map whilst the men dragging Thomas and his friends led them over to a circle piece of wood on the floor. Thomas watched as two of the men reached down and pushed the bit of wood to one side, both seeming to be struggling. Once the wood was moved Thomas saw what it had been covering.

“Who wants to go first?” One of the men sneered as Thomas looked down. Below the cover seemed to be what remained of an old well. It was a large circle hole in the ground. Thomas couldn’t see the bottom due to how dark it was in there.

Thomas began to struggle as the men tried to push him closer to the hole. Newt and Minho seemed to be doing the same but Thomas noticed they didn’t use their abilities, or maybe they couldn’t. Minho let out a yelp as he was finally shoved towards the hole, he stumbled and fell in.

“Minho!” Thomas yelled allowing himself to be pushed a little closer to the hole so he could see the condition of his friend.

Unfortunately it didn’t take long for Thomas to finally be shoved down the hole too. He screamed as he toppled backwards down into the darkness and closed his eyes bracing himself for the impact which came all too suddenly. He yelped as his back hit some shallow water and a hard floor. He lay there for a few seconds in the dark trying to work out if he had broken any bones. The lack of any severe pain told him he hadn't. Thomas tilted his head slightly trying to take a look around when suddenly he felt a weight hit his chest, he groaned in pain and leaned his head back again trying to see what had hit him.

“Tommy?” A voice above him spoke and made Thomas realise Newt had landed on him.

“Hey Newt” Thomas groaned again.

“I’m so sorry!” Newt squeaked trying to get off of Thomas quickly. Thomas reached up and gently grabbed hold of Newt best he could with his hands still cuffed. 

“It’s okay, relax I’m fine” Thomas said gently, he couldn’t see Newt but he felt him stop fidgeting. 

“Thanks for breaking my fall I guess?” Newt said awkwardly.

“Happy to help” Thomas murmured as the pain began to ease again.

“Where’s Minho?” Newt’s question made Thomas look around him once more but he still couldn’t see anything so instead he began moving his arms feeling the walls around them.

Newt carefully got off of Thomas and seemed to be also feeling around. Thomas used this opportunity to sit up properly and as he did so he felt someone suddenly grab his arm from the left, he let out a little scream.

“Thomas! It’s me!” Minho's voice suddenly appeared next to him.

“Minho? I can’t see you” Thomas explained.

“Yeah the high pitched squeal gave that away” Minho clearly seemed well enough to be his usual sarcastic self.

“Come on follow my voice, both of you” Minho said.

Thomas got onto his hands and knees and began crawling after Minho who had started whistling so the two could hear him. Thomas awkwardly crawled through a circular hole to his left, which led into what felt like a tunnel. The three of them crawled through it for a couple of seconds before it opened up into what looked like a dungeon with low lights. Thomas stood up and looked around, it was a tiny stone room with only a few lanterns dotted around to provide light. In the dim light he noticed the only things in the room were a bucket in one corner and shackles attached to the opposite wall. Two people seemed to be shackled to the wall. 

“Hey, fresh meat” A woman spoke.

Thomas looked over at the woman. She was a small girl seemingly their age with short brown hair and round dark eyes. Her clothes were mostly tattered except for a large coat that she was wearing that seemed to swallow her. Sat beside her was a large older man with dark skin and dark eyes, he was giving Thomas and his friends a suspicious look.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked them.

“Yep, we’re fantastic” The girl said sarcastically, Thomas saw Minho smirk in the corner of his eyes and he huffed.

“Who are you?” Newt asked curiously.

“Who are you?” The man threw the question back at him.

“I’m Minho, this is Newt and Thomas” Minho pointed the three of them out. Thomas gave him a stunned look and Minho just shrugged.

“Cool names, I’m Brenda. I’d shake your hand but I’m a little tied up at the moment” Brenda replied waving one of her shackled hands.

“Jorge” The man then spoke up glancing down at the younger girl. Maybe she was his daughter?

Newt began looking around before his eyes widened and something seemed to dawn on him, he immediately turned to Thomas.

“The others! What if they come after us and get caught too?” He exclaimed.

“Gally will look after them” Minho spoke up, Newt glanced towards him and nodded seeming to trust his answer.

“We’ll get out of here soon” Thomas added.

“You make it sound easy” Brenda called over to them.

“How long have you been here?” Thomas asked her curiously.

“A few days” She shrugged kicking at the ground with her boots before continuing. “Want to try and get these chains off us?” She asked.

“How do we know we can trust you?” Thomas asked watching them both cautiously.

“Well, we’re all in the same dungeon and if you help us maybe we can help you” Brenda replied quirking an eyebrow.

“Brenda” The man spoke up shaking his head at her.

“Jorge, I’d rather take my chances with these three than stay here for another few days” Brenda said.

Minho glanced towards Thomas and Newt for a second before he stepped towards the two chained to the wall, he began inspecting the chain that held Brenda. Thomas frowned watching him curiously.

“Minho what are you doing?” He asked.

“Letting them out, Brenda’s right maybe we can help each other” Minho explained without glancing back. 

“But-” Thomas began to protest but was cut off by Minho who turned to look at him.

“You said it yourself, we wouldn’t be free without the help of a stranger and we should be the stranger that helps them now” Minho explained looking Thomas in the eye, Thomas huffed and shook his head.

“Can’t believe you’re already throwing that back in my face” Thomas said though his lips quivered in an attempt to hold back a smile. Minho smirked and shot Thomas a wink before he went back to fiddling with the chains.

Thomas glanced towards Newt and found him staring down at his hands with a deep frown upon his face. Thomas stepped closer to him and gently touched his arm to grab his attention.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked when Newt looked up at him, still frowning.

“Yeah…” Newt trailed off his attention not fully on Thomas.

“What are you thinking about?” Thomas tried again, Newt glanced towards Brenda and Jorge who seemed preoccupied watching Minho. Newt then turned more to face Thomas and leaned closer to whisper.

“My abilities, I can’t…they’re not working” Newt whispered.

“How is that possible?” Thomas asked a feeling of dread pooling in his chest.

“I don’t know but my head really hurts and I just can’t get them to work” Newt explained, worry shining in his eyes.

“These chains need a key, I’m not strong enough to break them on my own” Thomas heard Minho explain to Brenda as he stepped back seemingly out of breath.

“Alright wouldn’t want you to pull a muscle” Brenda teased though Thomas could hear the disappointment laced in her tone.

“Minho, can we talk to you for a second?” Thomas called the boy, receiving suspicious looks from both Jorge and Brenda. Minho nodded and approached the two cautiously. When he was close enough Thomas noticed his cuffed hands were shaking slightly and he seemed a little unsteady on his feet.

“Minho somethings wrong with my abilities” Newt whispered quickly as soon as Minho was close enough.

“Yours too?” Minho seemed almost relieved. “I thought it was just me, I can’t run or even move as quickly as I usually can” He added.

“What is going on?” Newt asked with a slight shake in his voice.

“I don’t know but the longer I’m down here the worse I feel” Minho said lifting his shaking hands to show them. Thomas glanced down at them and squinted his eyes slightly at the glowing blue light coming from the cuffs, he frowned for a second.

“When did this start?” He asked curiously.

“I first noticed it when we were captured” Minho explained.

“I noticed during the walk towards this place” Newt added. “Why?” He then added, he must have recognised Thomas’s thinking face.

“You don’t think…” Thomas trailed off for a second and glanced up at his friends, both watching him eagerly waiting for him to finish. “You don’t think it's the cuffs do you?” Both of the boys looked down at their handcuffs curiously.

“It’s possible” Newt murmured without looking up.

“How would these guys know how to suppress our abilities?” Minho asked frowning.

“It doesn’t matter right now, we just need to think of a way to get them off quickly. Suppressing your abilities can’t be good for you” Thomas insisted glancing between them.

“It’s rude to whisper” Jorge called over to them from his spot on the floor, he still seemed suspicious. 

“Sorry, we were just trying to figure out a way to escape” Thomas quickly lied.

“There isn’t much any of us can do while we’re restrained” Brenda shrugged. “Figure out the chains first” She added.

“Trust me, I will” Thomas said.


	20. Brainstorming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

An hour or maybe even two had passed. Thomas watched as his friends health seemed to deteriorate right before his eyes. Minho was sat against the wall near Brenda hugging his knees to his chest in an attempt to stop himself from shaking, it wasn’t working. Minho’s arms and legs hadn’t stopped shaking since their conversation and in fact it had gotten worse. Newt on the other hand was sat against the opposite wall with his head leaned back against it and his eyes closed, his headache was getting worse. Thomas paced back and forth trying desperately to come up with a solution. The three boys were all in such a state that even Brenda and Jorge were beginning to seem concerned or at least confused.

“You guys aren’t exactly the knights in shining armour I was hoping for” Brenda teased gently seeming unsure what else to do.

“Sorry we had our armour confiscated” Minho joked back, putting on a strong facade or at least trying to but Thomas saw right through it.

Jorge looked between the boys suspiciously before his eyes landed on Thomas and he spoke.

“Why are you three here?” He asked.

“I don’t know, they captured us but they didn’t say why” Thomas shrugged.

“They don’t capture just anyone, they usually kill you unless they have something to gain from keeping you alive” Jorge explained.

“Why are you two here then?” Thomas threw the question back at him, he wanted to keep their true identities as W.C.K.D escapees a secret for as long as he could.

“It’s a long story” Brenda explained, Jorge glanced at her but seemed satisfied with her answer.

Thomas sighed and shook his head pausing his pacing he looked around at the stone walls desperate for a solution to just reveal itself. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Though he did get an idea. Thomas stepped forward biting down on his lip and held out his hands, perhaps he could break the cuffs against the stone. He spotted a section of the wall that was jutting out and uneven and moved towards it. He raised his cuffed hands above his head and quickly brought them down on the stone, aiming to damage the middle of the cuffs the most. He hissed in pain as his hands scraped against the wall during the impact.

“Thomas what are you doing?” Minho asked in alarm.

“I’m trying to break these handcuffs” Thomas muttered looking down at his stinging, grazed hands. 

“Is it working?” Minho then asked curiously unable to see Thomas’s hands properly as he faced away.

“Not yet but it will” Thomas said raising his arms up again.

“I love your optimism” Brenda chuckled sarcastically.

Thomas ignored her and continued to bash the cuffs against the wall, scuffing the metal but doing little to break them open. He began to grow frustrated and and hit the stone with more strength and anger. He was only stopped when two hands grabbed hold of his preventing him from moving.

“Tommy stop, it’s not going to work” Newt murmured to him gently now stood beside him, he was pale with dark circles under his eyes.

“But-” Thomas tried to protest.

“No, leave it” Newt said with more authority this time. 

Thomas sighed and looked down at his hands again, ironically they were more damaged than the cuffs were, they were covered in red raw scrapes and stinging more than ever. Newt sighed also looking down at them not daring to touch the wounds.

“We’ll figure something else out Thomas it’s okay” Minho called from his position on the floor.

“I feel so useless I need to get us out of here!” Thomas insisted, the poor state of his friends doing nothing to ease his stress.

“Thomas? Look Brenda and I have been down here long enough to know that losing your cool won’t help” Jorge said with a surprisingly comforting tone.

“We just need to brainstorm some ideas, those handcuffs may be annoying but they do leave you in a better position than Jorge and I right now we can use that to our advantage” Brenda added encouragingly. Thomas knew that wasn’t completely true but he didn’t comment.

Newt tugged on Thomas’s wrist and pulled him over to the wall where Newt had been sitting previously. Newt slid down the wall to a sitting position and because of his grip on Thomas’s wrist he was forced to sit beside him. Thomas sighed beginning to calm down, the cold of the dungeon was contrasting with the warmth of sitting so close to his friend.

“So...any ideas?” Minho asked the room and was met with silence for a few seconds.

“If it weren’t for these handcuffs I’d rip those chains out the wall” Newt huffed quietly to Thomas. The anger in his voice concerned Thomas.

“Do those idiots ever come down here?” Minho asked Brenda and Jorge.

“They’ve only come down once or twice just to question us but they’ve never gotten any answers” Brenda shrugged.

“We could take them” Minho nodded confidently. Newt and Thomas both let out a laugh.

“Oh really Mr. Muscles?” Brenda teased smirking.

“It’s worth a try” Newt said encouragingly, he lay his head on Thomas’s shoulder making the brunette tense slightly before he found himself relaxing and smiling slightly. 

“They have weapons, the first thing we need to worry about are these handcuffs” Thomas reminded them shaking his head.

“It may be possible to convince our captures to take them off” Jorge said quietly catching everyone's attention.

“How would we do that?” Thomas asked frowning.

“That’s what we need to figure out” Jorge replied causing Thomas to huff in annoyance.

“Is anyone a good actor?” Brenda asked looking between the boys. Newt and Thomas both looked towards Minho who returned their looks and sighed.

“I am a man of many talents” Minho said glancing down at his still quivering hands.

“Okay so we’ll trick them into taking these handcuffs off and fight back?” Thomas asked, Minho shrugged with a slight nod in reply.

“That’s the best idea we have so far”

“That’s worrying” Brenda joked.

Nobody laughed. Instead a silence fell over the group again as they considered their options or lack of. Thomas was beginning to feel like he was back in the lab, trapped with no answers or real escape plans. It seemed all they could do was wait and that was the most frustrating part.

Seconds began to turn into minutes as the group waited for a better idea or one of their captures to visit. Thomas rested his head back against the wall, staring up at the rocky ceiling his mind kept going back to their friends stuck in that cave probably wondering what had happened. Minho had promised that Gally would protect the group but Thomas couldn’t help his doubts, he and Gally weren’t exactly best friends. Newt was still resting his head against Thomas’s shoulder frowning down at his hands, Thomas guessed he was trying to use his abilities but so far it seemed unsuccessful. Minho seemed to be sitting even closer to Brenda than before. 

“Tommy?” New whispered breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” Thomas hummed without taking his head off the wall.

“Are the handcuffs affecting you?” This made Thomas look down at Newt who lifted his head from the brunettes shoulder and turned to face him.

“No? I don’t have an ability why would they?” Thomas asked cautiously. Newt bit his lip and his eyes flicked down to Thomas’s hands for a split second.

“No reason, I just wanted to make sure you were okay” Newt mumbled causing Thomas to quirk an eyebrow.

“Do you know something I don’t?” Thomas asked.

“No, we both had our memories wiped remember?” Newt teased looking up into Thomas’s eyes. Thomas scoffed with a small smile, he felt like he couldn’t feel annoyed with Newt even if he tried.

“Don’t be smart” He warned with a friendly nudge to the shoulder. Newt shrugged with a smile but didn’t break eye contact.

“Newt I’m serious, I feel like you’re not telling me something” Thomas added in a more serious tone. Newt sighed and reached across putting his hand over Thomas’s.

“Tommy trust me, if those handcuffs aren’t affecting you then there's nothing to worry about” 

Thomas bit his lip, he couldn’t help but trust Newt. He nodded and smiled squeezing Newt’s hand gently. Thomas found himself unable to look away from Newt’s eyes.They seemed to shine in the low light and Thomas could slowly feel himself getting lost in them. What was happening? Newt was his friend he shouldn’t be thinking like this, should he? 

A splash abruptly drew Thomas out of his thoughts. The group looked around in confusion for a second before Thomas realised where the noise had come from. The water they had landed in when they were thrown into this dungeon. Was someone coming? Thomas stood up and cautiously approached the hole in the wall that they had crawled out of.

“Do you think it’s them?” Minho asked unsteadily making his way over to stand beside Thomas.

Thomas didn’t reply. He kept his eyes glued to the hole straining his ears he couldn’t hear any voices or footsteps. A few seconds passed before suddenly a little mouse came scurrying out of the hole and towards the pair. Minho let out a yelp and jumped backwards.

“Minho it’s a mouse!” Thomas said holding back a chuckle.

“Yeah I’m sure you can take it muscles” Brenda teased smirking. Minho huffed and shook his head.

“I knew it was a mouse” He grumbled watching the little creature.

Thomas shook his head and looked back down at the mouse, he frowned when he noticed it’s tail was wrapped around something. He stepped closer and noticed that it was a small silver key. The mouse dropped the key at his feet before scurrying back into the hole. Thomas frowned and bent down picking up the little key.

“What is that?” Brenda called over spotting something in Thomas’s hand.

“A key?” Thomas mumbled just as confused as she was.

“Wait a minute” Minho stepped closer to the hole peering in as if looking for something.

“Aris?” Minho called into the hole.

“...Yeah?” A familiar voice called back.


	21. Another escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for the longer wait this time, November is just a month full of deadlines. Hope you like this chapter anyway :)

Thomas gasped and stepped closer to the hole. “Aris? How…?” He trailed off still unable to see the boy. Newt got up from the floor and made his way over to his friends, he gently took the key from Thomas’s hand and inspected it. 

“Aris what is this for?” Newt asked curiously. Aris finally crawled out from the darkness now human and dressed in wet clothing.

“The handcuffs you idiot” Aris said with a huff, Thomas frowned and shot a glare towards Aris for a second before he realised what he was doing and stopped.

“Oh shit, but how did you know we needed this? And how did you even find us?” Minho asked quickly taking the key from Newt and searching the blondes handcuffs for a keyhole.

“I have a few questions of my own, firstly what the hell is going on?” Brenda spoke up startling Thomas slightly, he’d honestly forgotten she and Jorge where there.

“It was Teresa, she tracked you down and told us about the handcuffs” Aris explained sending a curious glance towards Brenda.

“How did she do that?” Minho asked finally finding a key hole and using the key to unlock Newts handcuffs. They fell to the ground and Newt closed his eyes for a second sighing in relief, Thomas reached out and grabbed his arm ready to steady him if he needed it.

“I’ll explain everything once we get out of here but we need to hurry” Aris said.

“Why?” Thomas asked suspiciously.

“Things are going to get messy upstairs any minute now” Aris explained vaguely as Minho unlocked Thomas’s handcuffs next.

“What about Brenda and Jorge?” Minho asked glancing towards the two.

“We’ll get you out too” Thomas spoke more directly to the pair who seemed both relieved and concerned simultaneously. 

Once his handcuffs were off Thomas took the key and worked on getting Minho’s off. Newt seemed to be getting to grips with having his abilities back as he stretched his fingers. Suddenly shouting and screaming could be heard from above them.

“Shit” Aris hissed glancing upwards. “We need to go now!” He added.

“Do you have any keys for us?” Jorge asked frowning at Aris who sighed and shook his head.

Thomas bit his lip as Minho’s handcuffs finally came off and the boy leaned back against one of the walls to adjust. It seemed like they were out of time. Thomas glanced towards Newt who was staring right back at him, both of them seemed to be having the same thought. The only way to get their new friends out would be to reveal their abilities. But how would Jorge and Brenda take it?

“Brenda, Jorge, we’re going to get you out but you need to trust us and work with us” Thomas explained slowly.

“Okay…?” Brenda said cautiously, Thomas was relieved that she seemed to be agreeing. Jorge gave a short nod and that was enough.

“Right um…” Thomas paused looking between his three enhanced friends unsure who would be best equipped to get them out.

Aris shrugged stepping back to take himself out of the equation leaving just Newt and Minho. Minho studied the chains for a second seemingly trying to think up a solution whilst Newt did the same. The blonde seemed to come to a conclusion quicker as he took a deep breath and held out both of his hands his eyes turning that familiar crimson colour. The chains glowed with red energy surrounding them for a few seconds before Newt quickly pulled his arms back towards his body with a grunt, ripping the chains out of the wall. 

“Good job” Minho patted his friend on the arm.

“Thanks” Newt replied seeming slightly out of breath.

Jorge and Brenda both looked horrified for a second before the two tried to mask it, they stood and gathered the chains up as they were still attached to their wrists. Thomas knew they would have to get them off properly upstairs.

“You’re...you’re from that lab” Brenda said looking between them suspiciously.

“We escaped, we’re not with them” Thomas explained quickly hoping that would be enough.

“How can we trust you?” Jorge asked stepping forward and almost in front of Brenda.

“We don’t have time for this if we don’t work together, none of us are getting out of here!” Aris cut in quickly grabbing everyone's attention.

“What do you mean?” Newt asked.

“Look, Chuck and I sneaked in here to get the keys and help you guys out but the others are just hiding outside and they’re not alone” Aris began.

“What do you mean not alone?” Thomas asked, Aris seemed irritated by the interruption but didn’t mention it.

“There are creatures swarming outside and by the sounds of it the people who took you have spotted them” 

“We need to get out of this building and away from here whilst the creatures are busy” Aris finished.

“How?” Newt asked.

“The wall of the well, we should be able to climb up it now that your hands are free” Aris explained.

The group collectively decided that there was no time for any more questions as they quickly followed Aris back through the hole and back to the well they had been thrown down. Aris led the way as the group began to climb back up the well. Thomas could see light above them meaning that the cover was no longer on the well. Aris climbed out first closely followed by Thomas who looked around once he was out. The room was empty apart from Chuck who stood near the well bouncing on the balls of his feet anxiously. 

“Thomas! Newt! Minho!” He exclaimed excitedly as his friends climbed out.

“Hey Chuck, you been using your ability?” Minho asked smiling down at the boy who nodded excitedly.

“Yes! That’s how I got in here and gave Aris the key!” Chuck explained proudly.

“Good job Chuck” Thomas smiled patting the boy on the back. Newt reached over and pulled Chuck into a quick hug whilst Brenda and Jorge climbed out of the well.

The latter two immediately started looking around the room seemingly searching for something. Thomas watched them curiously as they continued looking until they came across a set of keys that seemed to have been thrown onto the table in a hurry, perhaps before the group went out to deal with the creatures. The two unlocked what was left of their chains and let them drop to the floor. Next the pair seemed to set their sights on two backpacks that Thomas hadn’t spotted before, they were leaning against the leg of the big table. The two searched through them and began equipping themselves with gun holsters, Brenda’s wrapping around her thigh whilst Jorges went over his shoulder.

“What do you guys keep in there?” Chuck asked innocently.

“Knives” Jorge replied without looking up as he placed a gun in the holster and put the backpack on.

“Guns Chuck” Thomas clarified as Brenda and Jorge finished putting their gear on.

“So where is everyone?” Minho asked.

“Not far from here just hidden, we’ll have to try to get to them quickly” Aris explained.

“What if we can’t get past the creatures?” Minho continued to question his friend.

“You will, with our help” Brenda cut in looking between the boys who all returned a curious look.

“You got us out of that dungeon so we owe you and it doesn’t sound like you know what you’re dealing with out there” Jorge began.

“So what are you saying?” Thomas asked crossing his arms.

“He’s saying that we will get you past this horde safely in return for you helping us and then we can all part ways” Brenda finished for him.

“Who are you anyway?” Aris asked suspiciously looking between the two.

Neither of them got a chance to answer as suddenly a loud bang followed by wood splintering echoed throughout the room. Thomas whirled around quickly and was horrified to find the wooden door that had previously been the entrance was now in pieces on the floor. Stood in the doorway was what could only be described as a walking corpse, foul smelling with a black pus like substance oozing from it’s slack jaw. Wooden splinters were impaled into its hands and arms as it had clearly used brute force to knock down the door. It seemed like it could have been human once as it was still dressed in tattered clothes but Thomas knew whatever it was now it definitely wasn’t human anymore. Thomas felt frozen and felt that familiar panic seize his body just as it had when he’d encountered the grievers. Distantly he heard his friends let out small screams of horror as they too laid eyes on the monster.

“What is tha-” Thomas didn’t even get to finish his sentence before an eardrum shattering bang was heard from beside him and the creature dropped to the floor. With ringing in his ears Thomas surveyed the room to find the source of the noise and found Brenda with her gun still raised.

“Now, are we going to stand here and get to know each-other or do you want to get out of here?”


	22. First encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for all the positive feedback it means a lot! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“That gun shot will attract attention, we need to get out of this enclosed space. Unfortunately I don’t have any spare guns so just stick close and use your weird power things to stay alive” Jorge ordered before drawing his gun and marching towards the door, stepping over the dead creature.

The group followed Jorge out with Brenda taking up the rear. Thomas found himself stumbling to keep up, his head spinning just trying to keep up with all the monsters and enemies this world seemed to be filled with. 

Once Thomas stepped out of the wooden building his ears were once again assaulted with the sound of gunshots as their previous kidnappers seemed to be shooting at a hoard of those creatures which were slowly gaining the upper hand. Luckily their kidnappers seemed too preoccupied with the monsters to notice that the group was escaping.

“Where are your friends?” Jorge asked Aris quickly.

“Up that way” Aris shakily pointed in the direction which, if Thomas remembered correctly, the cave was.

“That’s basically a dead end, if we get followed that way we’re screwed” Brenda hissed without taking her eyes or gun off her surroundings.

“You’re friends are going to have to come to us” Jorge stated. 

“I can go get them” Minho spoke up quickly.

“Okay Brenda cover him” Jorge ordered but Minho shook his head.

“I won’t need it, trust me just wait here” Minho said quickly, a second later he was gone and a breeze blew past Thomas.

“We need to clear a path that way” Brenda said waving her gun in the opposite direction, a path that would take them away from the wooden building and further into the world.

“On your left!” Jorge quickly shouted causing Brenda to dodge towards the right just in time as a creature stumbled towards them. Jorge used the split second after Brenda moved to shoot the monster dead.

“Come on we need to start moving” Jorge ordered. Thomas bit down on his lip and glanced back towards where his friends should be, he couldn’t see them.

“I’m not going anywhere without the others” Thomas stubbornly planted his feet.

“We don’t have time for this, kid!” Jorge snapped angrily without taking his eyes off their surroundings.

Thomas continued watching their surroundings, partly looking for his friends and parly watching out for any other attackers. He frowned as he saw the shooters begin to switch weapons and rather than using guns they began to throw things. Thomas couldn’t work out what they were throwing until he saw the explosion.

“Shit!” Brenda screamed as a dust cloud was thrown up into the air, reducing visibility.

“Get down!” Jorge demanded, Thomas, Aris Newt and Chuck all immediately followed this order.

“There they are!” Chuck suddenly shouted pointing in the distance, Thomas turned and sighed in relief as he saw a group running towards them.

They didn’t have long to celebrate though as something hit the ground with a thud near Thomas, he looked around and was horrified to see it was one of the cylinder explosives that were being thrown. Time seemed to pause for a second as Thomas just stared at his fate, he wasn’t like his friends he didn’t have an ability that could save him now, he was going to die.

“Explosive!” Jorge shouted trying to shove the group as far away from it as possible. Thomas felt his arm get tugged but he knew they would never be able to get far away enough in time. He closed his eyes and waited for the explosion.

“Newt! Do something!” Thomas heard Aris scream, causing him to open his eyes again just in time to see Newt throw out his hand throwing the explosive away from them with a blast of red energy. Unfortunately he didn’t act soon enough and as the explosive went off the energy from the blast launched Thomas and his friends backwards.

Thomas felt his back hit something hard before he then hit the ground, his ears were ringing once again and his vision was blurred. The impact created what felt like a vice that seized around Thomas’s lungs causing him to cough and splutter trying to catch his breath. The echo of screaming could be heard all around him and Thomas turned his head trying to find the source. Unfortunately he quickly did.

The creatures had descended on the group like vultures, obviously being drawn in by the loud explosion and their current weak states. A series of loud bangs went off once again as Brenda and Jorge tried to fend off their attackers. Thomas watched in horror as Chuck was pinned down with a creature on top of him, snarling and swiping at him.

“No…” Thomas coughed out trying to force himself up but he couldn’t. His head was still spinning from explosion.

“Get off of him!” A deep voice filled with rage suddenly balled.

Thomas looked up and squinted seeing a tall figure stood above them, after a few seconds his eyes focused enough for him to be able to identify that person as Gally. Thomas watched as the boy reached down and grabbed a fistfull of the creatures clothing and screamed as he tugged as hard as he could, throwing the creatures off of Chuck and causing it to land a few meters away.

Thomas struggled to sit up, looking around properly now he saw Chuck also scrambling into a sitting position, his breath coming up short and sharp. Aris seemed to be kicking at a creature that was trying to grab at his feet, this problem was quickly solved as Frypan launched a small ball of flames straight at the creature, somehow not singeing Aris in the process. The creature screamed as Aris rolled away from it. Jorge quickly finished it off with a bullet before he stood up and helped Brenda to her feet. Thomas quickly scanned the group looking for Newt and sighed in relief when he spotted him. He was currently being helped up by Minho. Thomas got up as quickly as he could, though he did stumble a few times, before he made his way over.

“Thanks Minho” Newt mumbled once he was up on his feet, he still seemed quite disorientated and that probably wasn’t helped by the bleeding gash that was just above his eyebrow.

“Is everyone okay?” Thomas asked loudly.

“We don’t have time for this! Everyone up! Follow me!” Jorge barked clearly seeing an opportunity and taking it he began to run.

The group stumbled after him with Brenda taking up the rear to keep them covered. Minho held onto Newt’s arm and almost dragged him along. Thomas grabbed hold of Chuck’s hand seeing the boy begin to lag behind slightly and tugged him along too. For the most part the creatures were either preoccupied with their kidnappers or being kept back by Brenda and Jorge. Thomas saw a flash of orange as Frypan launched a ball of fire in the direction of an oncoming creature, causing it to fall to the ground and scream.

The group just kept going no matter what. Thomas’s legs ached and his lungs burned but he never stopped. His hand was slick with sweat as it continued to clutch Chuck’s. He glanced around every so often just to make sure the group were still together and alive. The screams and gunshots slowly began to fade away the further the group got, the creatures were either dead or had given up and decided to find easier prey.


	23. The calm after the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for the feedback it really means a lot and it let's me know which elements of the story you guys are enjoying so I can incorporate them more! :)   
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry it's more of a dialogue based one.

It felt like hours later when the group finally slowed to a brisk walk. Thomas gently squeezed Chuck’s hand in reassurance before letting go of it.

“Can we stop yet?” Chuck called out to Jorge who was still leading the group, the younger boy seemed to have no issue with the two new group members. Jorge paused and looked around before nodding.

“Yes, we should be safe for a few minutes” He decided, dumping his backpack on the floor.

The group came to a stop and many of them including Thomas practically collapsed into sitting positions. Brenda circled them looking down at the group curiously.

“What was that?” Brenda asked frowning.

“What was what?” Gally asked in a defensive tone.

“That back there? I thought you guys were supposed to be super humans but that was pitiful” Brenda let out a laugh shaking her head.

“This is our first time out in the world, we weren’t prepared for any of that” Thomas sighed wiping at the sweat on his forehead.

“Who are you anyway?” Teresa asked squinting her eyes slightly at Brenda who simply quirked an eyebrow back at her.

“That’s Brenda and Jorge, they were locked up with us and agreed to get us away from there safely” Minho explained.

“Thank you, we were really out of our depth back there” Frypan nodded towards the two standing.

“Well if you continue like that you won’t last five minutes out here” Jorge commented putting his gun back in it’s holster for now, Brenda kept hers out.

“Couldn’t you help us?” Chuck asked curiously. 

“We have our own group to get back to” Jorge said looking at their surroundings rather than back at Chuck. Thomas also took a look around and found that there wasn’t much to see. They were surrounded by stone once again as they seemed to have run into a valley. All Thomas could see was rocky mountains around them.

“We’ll be fine on our own” Gally spoke catching Thomas’s attention once again.

“Yeah, almost getting eaten and blown up was all part of our smooth plan” Minho added sarcastically.

“Look we do want to help you-” Brenda began, being interrupted by a grunt from Jorge which she ignored.

“-But you’re part of wicked, whether you like it or not, and that paints a big target on your back” Brenda finished.

“What do you mean?” Aris asked frowning.

“In short, the groups of survivors that are left in this world have two common enemies: the Cranks and wicked. As soon as they know you’re associated with them you’re as good as dead” Jorge explained.

“Why haven’t you killed us then?” Gally challenged, his hands curled into fists.

“Because we don’t believe in unnecessary killing” Jorge replied in short.

“And you got us out of that dungeon, we owed you” Brenda added. “But now we need to get back to our group” 

Thomas sighed and stood up grabbing Brenda and Jorge’s attention. He wanted to take control of the conversation before it turned into an argument.

“We hate wicked just as much as you do and we know everything there is to know about them” Thomas began.

“What are you trying to say kid?” Jorge frowned at him.

“I’m trying to say that we’re useful, we may not be very good with the Cranks but we escaped wicked” Thomas continued. Brenda and Jorge exchanged a glance, both seemingly conflicted. Jorge tilted his head slightly and Brenda moved to stand beside him.

“Give us time and we’ll be fighting fit, we could be a useful part of your group” Thomas finished

“We all need to rest for now. You stay here and stay vigilant, Brenda and I need to talk” Jorge simply ordered before he turned to Brenda and they spoke in hushed voices.

Thomas sighed and left the pair to discuss. He glanced around at the group, his friends all seemed exhausted and filthy but at least they were still alive. The group all sat in a shape resembling a circle and began to talk. Thomas didn’t tune into what they were saying but he guessed they were checking on each other and probably asking questions. Thomas felt too anxious to sit back down and join in so instead he paced, keeping his eyes on their surroundings for any potential danger.

If Brenda and Jorge didn’t agree to help them Thomas wasn’t sure what they would do. Jorge was right, they wouldn’t last five minutes despite their abilities. Maybe they would have been safer in the lab after all?

“Tommy?” A voice broke Thomas out of his thoughts, he stopped pacing and turned to see Newt stood next to him.

“Hey Newt”

“Are you okay?” Newt tilted his head staring at Thomas with wide concerned eyes.

“Yeah of course” Thomas answered quickly, taking in Newts appearance he frowned. The blond was pale, well more pale than usual, with dried blood still surrounding the gash on his head. 

“How’s your head?” Thomas asked gently reaching out to touch the gash. He quickly pulled his hand back when Newt flinched.

“Sorry!”

“No, it’s okay I’m fine” Newt shook his head with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Newt” Thomas sighed. “You can tell me if you’re not” Newt smiled and reached out taking Thomas’s hand, he held onto it with both of his and squeezed gently.

“It just hurts a little that's all. Of course I would tell you if I wasn’t” Newt said quietly.

“Promise?” Thomas raised his free hand and held out his pinky finger causing Newt to let out a laugh.

“Really?”

“Yup, this is serious” Thomas said with a stern voice, although he couldn’t stop a smile from escaping. Newt shook his head smiling fondly and let go of Thomas’s other hand so he could hook their pinkies together.

“Promise” Newt whispered looking up at Thomas slightly. Neither of them released the hold as Newt continued to stare up at Thomas. Thomas found himself wishing he had the ability to read minds. He watched as Newt stepped closer and leaned up slightly.

“Hey! You made a secret handshake without me?” Minho’s voice suddenly interrupted them causing Newt to step back and turn to smile at their friend.

“Of course not” Newt spoke in a friendly tone. Thomas found himself unable to reply to Minho, his mind still swirling trying to figure out what had just happened, or almost happened.

“Good, can’t have Thomas stealing my best friend” Minho joked with a wink, Newt rolled his eyes playfully.

“You’re cheerful” Newt commented.

“I have to be, someone needs to keep group morale up” Minho spoke in a cheerful tone but even Thomas could hear the slight strain in his words causing him to frown in concern. Thomas opened his mouth to question him about it but Minho had already moved on.

“Anyway, how’s your head? Looks sore” Minho asked Newt.

“It’s fine Minho, I’ll live” Newt shrugged, he glanced towards Thomas for a second and Thomas recognised the concern in his eyes, he was worried too.

“Come sit down just in case, I’m not carrying you if you suddenly collapse” Minho nudged Newt’s arm speaking with a light tone but Thomas knew better, he could tell Minho cared deeply for all of his friends.

Thomas watched as Minho gently pulled Newt back towards the group and made him sit in the circle. Thomas continued to watch Newt even after the boy had been roped into the conversation and no longer seemed to be paying attention to Thomas. He felt a warmth spread through him that he couldn’t describe, a warmth that seemed to radiate from Newt.

A gentle tap on his shoulder caused him to flinch and blush slightly. He felt like a child who’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t. He turned quickly and looked down to find Teresa.

“Oh hi, are you okay?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah I just wanted to check on you, you seem a bit out of it” Teresa shrugged, Thomas’s cheeks burned again slightly and he couldn’t understand why.

“I’m fine” He said quickly, crossing his arms. Teresa nodded and a slightly awkward silence fell over them that lingered a few seconds too long. Thomas stared down at her when suddenly Aris’s voice popped into his head. ‘Teresa, she tracked you down’.

“How did you find us?” Thomas asked remembering the short conversation with Aris. Teresa sighed and looked down fiddling slightly with the bottom of her shirt. Thomas waited patiently for her to answer though the longer it took the more concerned he got.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you” Teresa began.

“Okay…?”

“In the lab, when you found me, I was a doctor” Teresa spoke quietly and seemed to be hesitating slightly.

“Yeah?”

“Well, that wasn’t always the case” Teresa took a deep breath before sighing and continuing. “I was like you once, I was a child that they took, experimented on and tried to train” 

“What?” Thomas blurted out.

“I was one of the first children they experimented on. One of the first to gain an ability” Teresa continued, ignoring his slight outburst. “They tried to train me for a while but...my ability wasn’t exactly ideal for any kind of combat or mission that they had in mind at the time”

“So they made you a doctor?” Thomas asked frowning.

“Yes, they thought I would be better suited for that job since I could...get inside people’s heads” Teresa finally admitted.

“I don’t understand?” Thomas mumbled.

“I’m telepathic, I can read people’s minds. That’s how I found you guys”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the sort of cliffhangers I occasionally leave chapters on, I don't usually write with chapters in mind I just let the story unfold naturally and then separate them where I think is best, unfortunately this does sometimes mean cliffhangers sorry!


	24. Survivalists

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slightly longer chapter today to make up for the longer wait! :) Hope you like it!

"Telepathic?"

"Yeah, I can read people’s minds. That’s how I found you guys” Teresa explained.

“You read my mind?” Thomas suddenly felt very vulnerable.

“Not just yours! The others too, I only did it so I could figure out where you were” Teresa added quickly.

“Do...do you do that alot?” Thomas asked still trying to process the fact she had hidden an ability for so long.

“No! I rarely do it, only when I need to” Teresa said looking nervous.

Thomas took a deep breath and stepped back from Teresa. She could read their minds? How had they not known? And what had she heard? Thomas guessed not much as she hadn’t brought anything up. Thomas looked down into Teresa’s dark eyes and saw them filled with fear, she looked down allowing her hair to shield them for a moment.

“Okay” Thomas murmured causing her to quickly look up again.

“Okay?” Teresa asked frowning.

“Okay, your ability doesn’t change anything. You’re still one of us if anything you fit into the group even more than you did before” Thomas shrugged with a smile. 

“You don’t hate me? For lying to you I mean” Teresa asked nervously fiddling with her hair.

“Of course not, besides you never really lied you just...didn’t mention it”

“Thank you” Teresa sighed in relief and quickly pulled Thomas into a hug. Thomas let out an awkward yelp not expecting the sudden contact before he relaxed and hugged her back. Teresa giggled at his awkwardness before pulling away.

“Have you told anyone else?” Thomas asked.

“No, I thought you might be the most understanding”

“Wow, it’s like you read my-oh” Thomas blushed when Teresa laughed at him again.

“Sorry I’m going to have to get used to this” Thomas explained.

“That’s okay. Thomas? I have a favour to ask” Teresa chewed on her lip, her smile disappearing.

“Could you be the one to tell the others? Or at least help me tell them? They trust you.” she asked.

“Of course” Thomas reached out and squeezed her shoulder, feeling her body sag with relief.

A short and sharp whistle suddenly rang out causing both Thomas and Teresa to flinch. Thomas turned and saw that it had been Brenda, who was now stood beside Jorge watching the group expectantly. Thomas tried to read their expressions but they were both very careful at concealing their emotions, something Thomas would eventually have to learn no doubt. Jorge cleared his throat and crossed his arms before speaking.

“So, you would like to come with us? For protection? To be taught how to survive?” Various nods from the group confirmed this.

“Fine, Brenda and I will allow you to come with us back to our group and along the way you may learn a thing or to but it’s going to cost you” Jorge continued.

“Cost us? What do you want from us?” Newt asked frowning, Gally scoffed and shook his head but thankfully kept his mouth shut.

“Well like Thomas said you have valuable information that we could use against Wicked” Thomas nodded in agreement. “You will tell us everything and from this moment on you do as we say”

“Why should we?” Gally unfortunately couldn’t hold his tongue for long, Newt tried to discreetly elbow him.

“You want to live don’t you?” Brenda asked.

“Is that a threat?” Gally countered.

“You tell me” Brenda smirked slightly at Gally. Jorge huffed and cut into the argument.

“You want us to teach you how to survive so you’re going to need to listen. The world is too dangerous, we can’t afford to keep people around if they won’t cooperate” 

“Okay, we’ll do whatever you want” Thomas agreed on behalf of the group, no one looked too annoyed about this.

“Good, when we reach our group it will be up to them whether you can stay after that” Jorge added.

“What-” Gally began to protest once again.

“Deal” Thomas cut him off abruptly. 

“Thomas, we need to discuss this as a group” Frypan interjected.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think we have much of a choice”

“Thomas is right, we need help if we’re going to get through this” Newt spoke up, Thomas shot him a grateful smile.

“So...are you coming with us or not?” Brenda asked scanning the group.

“Yeah we are”

\-------------

Thomas and the group had been travelling with Brenda and Jorge for a couple days before they properly stopped again. The further into the world they travelled the more the tragedies of the past began to show. They passed the crumbling remains of old buildings and the rusted scraps of abandoned vehicles. The environment had once again begun to change, the rocky terrain had been replaced with long and unkempt grass. The blades of grass were brittle and pale but nonetheless they stood tall, reaching Thomas’s knees at least (and in some spots it went as high as his waist). The land had opened up and the mountains were gone, instead they walked now through fields which had once been cities if the decaying roofless buildings were anything to go by. When Thomas had asked Brenda about the state of the world she had simply replied that she didn’t remember it before this, she had grown up in this crank infested world and knew little of the past.

The group had stopped inside the foundations of an old square building. The supporting columns and part of the roof were the only things that remained. Brenda and Jorge had allowed them to rest and snack on some fruit that Jorge had packed for his and Brenda’s journey for a moment before Brenda had announced that their training would commence. Many of the boys shuddered at the sound of this but didn’t protest. They had spent the last few days telling Brenda and Jorge everything they knew about Wicked and in return the two had promised to train them the best they could. Within that conversation, Thomas had tried to casually slip in Teresa’s ability. The response was surprisingly calm and accepting much to his relief, even Gally bit his tongue but that may have been due to the daggers Newt had shot him whenever he did try to open his mouth.

Thomas groaned as he was thrown to the ground for the third time in a row. He coughed and stared up as a boot was placed on his chest keeping him firmly in place. Squinting, Thomas could just about make out Brenda’s exasperated face above him.

“Up” She commanded brushing strands sweaty hair out of her face.

“I can’t do this” Thomas huffed as Brenda took her foot off his chest and held out her hand. Thomas took it and Brenda pulled him back up to a standing position.

“Yes you can. You almost had it that time” Brenda said encouragingly.

“Was that before or after he face planted?” Gally laughed lounging in the grass watching the pair. It was almost comical as Thomas could barely see him between the tall blades. Sitting near him were Newt, Chuck, Minho and Teresa. Jorge had taken Frypan and Aris on watch, they were looking out for any creatures or other groups.

“You’ll get your turn” Brenda smirked at him before turning back to Thomas. 

“I’ve taught you how to block, dodge and throw a punch. Just plant your feet and don’t get knocked on your ass again” Brenda put up her fists once again.

Thomas took a deep breath and nodded planting his feet. He watched Brenda carefully waiting for her to strike. A few seconds passed and Thomas tensed as Brenda suddenly shot forward. He concentrated as hard as he could and blocked the first few punches, even managing to throw the girl off balance for a split second. He jumped slightly as she tried to sweep his legs from under him again learning from last time. He dodged a punch by ducking under her arm but wasn’t quick enough to dodge her leg as it shot out and caused him to stumble backwards.

“Very good” Brenda panted crossing her arms and ceasing her attacks.

“But I didn’t win?” Thomas frowned regaining his balance, thankful he didn’t hit the floor again.

“No but you’re learning, that’s good enough for now” Brenda held out her hand for a high five which Thomas happily gave.

“That was pretty cool” Thomas heard Minho speak as he approached the pair. Thomas smiled and opened his mouth to thank his friend when he noticed Minho was looking at Brenda instead.

“Thanks muscles” Brenda smirked at him. Thomas pouted slightly but didn’t interrupt the interaction.

“You know you should really be calling Gally muscles now you know our abilities” Minho stood close to Brenda with a matching smirk on his face.

“Oh, I have my own names for Gally don’t you worry” Brenda chuckled.

“I heard that” Gally called over causing Minho to laugh.

“Come on then, your turn” Brenda patted Minho’s shoulder.

“Cool, who am I fighting?” Minho asked looking over at Thomas throwing him a wink causing Thomas to laugh and shake his head. Brenda glanced around the group tapping her chin in thought before she turned back to Minho.

“Newt, you guys can spar you’re at roughly the same level of training” Brenda announced causing Newt to nod and get up from his sitting position near Gally.

“Can we use our abilities?” Newt asked as he came to stand in front of Minho.

“Yeah but not too much, I don’t want any injuries” Brenda said stepping to the side so she could observe the pair. Thomas hurried to stand beside her. He began to chew on his thumb nail as he watched his two friends, not too eager to watch this fight but unable to look away.

“You ready?” Minho asked Newt who nodded stretching his fingers slightly.

Minho nodded and suddenly rushed forward, using his ability slightly to make him quicker. Newt had foreseen this and threw out his hand catching Minho’s fist with his mind, holding it in place. Thomas chewed his lip seeing Minho’s fist inches from Newt, he knew that everyone taking part in these training sessions made sure to pull their punches but it still made him nervous nonetheless. The fight continued mostly consisting of Minho throwing punches and Newt blocking or dodging them until suddenly Newt decided to try and throw a punch of his own. Minho was just as shocked as Thomas was and barely avoided it. Thinking fast Minho grabbed Newts wrist and twisted his arm slightly trying to put him in a wrist hold and end the match. Unfortunately with adrenaline coursing through his veins Minho must have bent Newt’s arm a bit too far causing the blonde to yelp in pain. Thomas’s heart stopped at the sound and Minho looked just as alarmed but before anyone could move Minho was suddenly thrown through the air as a blast of red energy came from Newt. Minho landed roughly a few feet away.

“Minho!” Chuck got up from his sitting position and hurried over to his friend to check on him. Gally also got up and hurried over looking uncharacteristically concerned.

“Is he okay”? Brenda asked jogging over to him. Thomas looked between Minho and Newt unsure who he should be more concerned about. He stayed put and sighed in relief as Minho sat up.

“I’m fine, it’s okay” Minho said sounding a little winded but otherwise seemingly okay.

“Oh my god! Minho I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, it just happened!” Newt said quickly looking horrified at what he had done.

“Newt it’s okay, I’m sorry I hurt your arm” Minho said sounding genuinely apologetic as he glanced at the arm he had twisted.

“I said I didn’t want any injuries” Brenda frowned looking between the two.

“I’m sorry” Newt muttered anxiously fiddling with his sleeves. Thomas frowned watching him carefully, he knew Newt would never intentionally hurt Minho so what had happened?

“Let’s just call it a day” Brenda said sighing as she helped Minho up off the ground.

Newt nodded and turned around walking off. Thomas watched as he stepped outside of the buildings frame and leant against one of the support columns looking outward at the landscape. Apart from Minho who kept throwing Newt concerned glances, no one else seemed to worry about the fact that Newt may have just lost control of his ability. No one else except Thomas of course.


	25. Late night talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I apologise for it being slightly uneventful I just feel like this was a conversation that was needed. :)

Thomas’s dark eyes scanned the horizon as the sun had finally set. He squinted trying his best to make out shapes in the darkness. Jorge and Brenda had decided to let the boys sleep for an hour or two before they began to move again, this would be the first time since the group had set off that they had a chance to properly sleep. Thomas had volunteered to stay on watch with Jorge as his mind was racing too much to even consider sleeping. Unfortunately Gally had also offered to stay awake.

“How will we know if something is coming if we can’t see it?” Thomas wondered aloud to Gally who stood beside him, the two of them leaning back against one of the supporting columns. Jorge was pacing on the other side of the building keeping watch.

“If you shut up, we'll be able to hear them” Gally hissed barely glancing at Thomas. Thomas huffed and shook his head staying silent...for about a minute.

“Why do you hate me?” Thomas asked watching as Gally looked back at him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

“What?”

“Why do you hate me?” Thomas repeated the question watching Gally carefully. Despite their differences and past problems Thomas just wanted to get through to Gally. They didn’t have time to bicker anymore.

“I don’t hate you” Gally frowned.

“Yes you do” Thomas said frowning in confusion when Gally scoffed and shook his head looking back out at the horizon.

“Why do you think I hate you?” Gally asked without looking at him.

“Because you’re always belittling me or picking a fight with me” Thomas explained trying to sound confident but he was beginning to falter, Gally had not reacted the way Thomas had expected. Gally sighed leaning his head back to look at the sky for a moment before he finally looked back at Thomas.

“That’s just who I am Thomas, I’m not a nice person” Gally shrugged trying to seem notcholant but Thomas could see through the act.

“That’s not true” Thomas mumbled.

“How would you know? You’ve only been here five minutes” Gally spat.Thomas resisted the urge to back down and instead stood his ground.

“So you do hate me? Why? Because I haven’t been in this mess as long as everyone else?” Thomas questioned trying to get Gally to crack and tell him the truth.

“No! I don’t hate you!” Gally almost shouted.

“Then what is your problem?” 

“I’m scared!” Gally shouted before he could stop himself. As soon as the words left his mouth a look of defeat came over Gally’s features.

“Scared?” Thomas asked him gently. Gally sighed slumping against the nearest column he dragged a hand down his face before speaking.

“I’m scared. I’ve always been scared. Even in the lab before we knew everything I never felt safe there” Gally mumbled.

“Everyone is scared Gally why does that give you the right to attack me?” Thomas frowned unable to stop the wave of sympathy he felt hearing Gallys defeated tone.

“It doesn’t I just...I was angry. I felt like such a coward, I still do, I’m supposed to be the strong one but I’m terrified” Gally was looking anywhere but at Thomas as he spoke.

“You don’t have to be strong all the time, you’re allowed to be scared Gally” Thomas mumbled clenching his fist slightly to resist the urge to rest his hand on Gallys arm.

“I didn’t want people to know how afraid I was, I didn’t want to seem weak so I just tried to hide it and the only way I could do that was by-”

“-Being a dick?” Thomas finished the sentence for him causing Gally to smirk slightly.

“I suppose so” Gally nodded.

“Being afraid is not a weakness Gally and I promise you I’m just as scared as you are. We all got out of that lab by working together, you were just as strong as everyone else was” Thomas explained gently. Gally remained quiet.

“Why did you target me?” Thomas then asked.

“You were the only one brave enough to save us. I guess I was just angry because I knew it was something I should have done a long time ago” Gally tried to explain.

“Everyone in this group was brave enough and strong enough to get us out, any one of you could have done it” Thomas shrugged. “You don’t have to be alone in this. You don’t have to bottle it up and lash out just talk to someone” Thomas continued when Gally remained quiet.

“Okay” Gally whispered.

“Thank you” Thomas mumbled in reply. “So can we agree to be civil?” He added.

“I guess” Gally shrugged still avoiding eye contact. Thomas sighed and nodded knowing that this was the best he was going to get. A few seconds of silence passed before Gally spoke again.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you”

“You shouldn’t take it out on anyone, that includes yourself” Thomas mumbled.

“I know, I’ll try not to do that anymore”

“And are you going to stop pointing and laughing every time I land on my face during training?” Thomas asked with a slight smirk to lighten the mood.

“Oh, I can’t promise that” Gally smirked back causing Thomas to roll his eyes.

“For what it’s worth...I really am sorry for the way I’ve treated you and I will try to do better” Gally said quietly.

“Thank you” Thomas repeated with a small smile. Gally just nodded and went back to looking out. Thomas felt like he was finally starting to get through to the boy.

An almost peaceful silence fell over the two and it remained that way for a couple of hours as they both lent back watching the horizon. The darkness stretched on with no sign of light anytime soon and Thomas eventually felt his eyes drooping slightly. He blinked heavily, the two of them had been told to wake someone to continue the watch after an hour or so but neither Thomas or Gally had made a move to do so. 

Thomas glanced behind him spotting the dark shapes that were his friends sleeping peacefully on the floor. He could still hear the slight crunch of Jorge's boots as the man paced on his own watch. Thomas returned his eyes to the land in front and squinted attempting to focus them. It wasn’t really working and Thomas had begun to fear that he may fall asleep on Gallys shoulder when a sudden cough sounded. Thomas jumped and smacked his head against the column in an attempt to look around and find the source of the noise.

“Woah, careful” Thomas heard Minho’s slightly amused voice speak as he rubbed the sore part of his head.

“Minho! Don’t sneak up on us like that” Thomas hissed shaking his head as Minho came to stand in between them.

“Sorry I was just coming to see if either of you wanted to sleep, I can take over” Minho explained crossing his arms.

“We’re fine thanks Minho” Gally mumbled without looking at him. Minho pulled a face at Gally whilst the boy was distracted before he turned back to Thomas.

“What about you? There’s a nice cosy spot by Newt that I just vacated” Minho winked causing Thomas to frown.

“I’m good thanks” He said deciding to ignore the wink, he was too tired to question Minho’s antics tonight.

“Suit yourselves” Minho said resting his arm on Thomas’s shoulder leaning against him casually as if he were a wooden post.

“Why are you awake anyway?” Thomas asked allowing Minho to rest on him for now.

“I just wanted to check on you guys” Minho shrugged trying to sound casual but Thomas smiled at the concern Minho showed.

“We’re okay, haven’t seen anything yet” Thomas explained trying to hide a yawn in the process.

“Might that be because you’ve been falling asleep?” Minho chuckled smirking at Thomas who huffed.

“I’m wide awake”

“Sure you are, seriously Thomas go get some rest I’ll take over” Minho gently squeezed Thomas’s shoulder.

Thomas sighed but nodded knowing it was probably for the best. He carefully moved away from Minho allowing him to take the spot against the column. With one last glance out at the horizon Thomas headed over to where the group slept. Without giving it much thought he automatically went to the spot near Newt that Minho had mentioned and curled up beside the blonde soon falling into a deep sleep.


	26. Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thought I'd do an extra update this week! Hope you enjoy this chapter! :) And thank you for all the comments I love reading them and I love hearing your thoughts and opinions!

Thomas woke to the feeling of a cold and sharp breeze grazing his cheeks. He slowly opened his eyes and was met with the view of a grey and cloudy sky. The only sounds he could hear were blades of grass rustling in the wind and the steady breathing of his friends. Thomas blinked a couple of times allowing his eyes to focus before he sat up and looked around properly. The first thing he noticed was an empty spot next to him.

Thomas slowly stood trying his best not to wake anyone else just yet, they all looked like they needed the rest. Brenda and Jorge were also nowhere to be seen, this worried Thomas for a second before he spotted their bags still sitting in the corner. Thomas concluded that they must have been on a watch or in search of some extra food.

Thomas stepped out of the main square and past the supporting columns to check out their surroundings. He paused when his gaze found a familiar sight. Newt was sat on the floor about a meter in front of Thomas with his back to him. Thomas could see the familiar glowing red and Newt’s hands moving in front of him. Slowly stepping closer trying not to spook him Thomas got a better look at what Newt was doing. Three small stones were levitating in front of him, gently weaving in and out of each other as Newt moved his fingers. Thomas chewed on his lip watching the boy curiously, a small sense of relief washed over Thomas as he watched Newt’s control over the stones. Thomas took a step to the side leaning forward so he could see the side of Newt’s face, he seemed to be concentrating hard, his eyes glowing red (a colour that was really growing on Thomas). It was fascinating to watch. Beautiful even. 

This serenity did not last long. Suddenly one of the stones shattered, breaking into dozens of tiny pieces that all shot outwards. Newt let out a yelp of surprise and quickly dropped the remaining two stones. Thomas flinched back slightly and the familiar feeling of worry washed over him. Newt put his head in his heads and let out a few trembling breaths. Thomas was almost tempted to walk away and pretend he hadn’t seen anything but he just couldn’t. So instead Thomas took another step forward and awkwardly cleared his throat. Newt jumped and quickly turned to see who it was, he calmed down at the sight of Thomas and even shot the boy a smile.

“Hi” Newt mumbled as he stood up and stepped towards Thomas keeping his hands behind his back.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Thomas asked gently.

“Yeah of course” Newt continued smiling but Thomas could see that it didn’t reach his eyes.

Thomas didn’t get the chance to further question him as they were both distracted by the sudden feeling of water hitting their faces. Thomas looked up as the dark clouds finally opened up and rain began falling. For the first few seconds it was light but it soon became heavier. Thomas looked over at Newt who had his eyes closed and his head tilted up letting the rain wash over his face.

“I forgot what rain felt like” Newt mumbled.

“Me too” Thomas whispered glancing upwards again, he was familiar with the concept of rain and was sure he had seen it before but the feeling of the cool refreshing water washing over him felt so foreign. 

Footsteps caught Thomas’s attention and he looked around spotting Jorge and Brenda jogging towards them through the grass, obviously having just returned from wherever they had been. The sounds of people being woken by the rain could also be heard as some squeals made Thomas chuckle. Newt also laughed at the sounds and began to head towards their friends. Thomas watched as Newt reached out to take Thomas’s hand to pull him along. Thomas held out his hand expectantly but Newt suddenly paused right before their hands connected. Newt chewed on his lip and pulled his hand back before continuing to head over to their friends. Thomas frowned and followed Newt.

“Minho stop squealing it’s only water” Gally mumbled rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Thomas guessed that he and Minho hadn’t been asleep long if they had stayed up on watch all night.

“It’s freezing” Minho huffed pushing his wet hair from his face. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up to wipe the water from his eyes, Thomas quickly looked away from his toned stomach but smirked as he saw Brenda had finally reached the group and did not in fact look away.

“Rise and shine I guess” Teresa mumbled standing up looking less than pleased about the rain.

“We should get moving, try to find some proper shelter” Jorge announced as he reached the group.

“I’ll go make sure we won’t run into any surprises” Aris spoke up, Jorge nodded as Aris headed out of the main square. A few seconds later Thomas watched a little bird fly upwards.

“Shit” Thomas heard someone say, he quickly turned to look at Frypan who was staring down at his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Minho asked quickly.

“My ability, I can’t…” Frypan trailed off and he spread out his palm and tried to create a flame, a small flash of orange appeared before quickly disappearing again.

“It must be the rain, I didn’t know you guys had weaknesses like this” Brenda frowned crossing her arms.

“Neither did we” Gally mumbled trying to disguise the worry in his voice. A thud sounded and a second later Aris came walking back towards them back in his normal form.

“I can’t see very well due to the rain but the area seems to be clear for about a mile” Aris explained.

“Okay, we need to go” Jorge said picking up his and Brenda’s bags, he tossed the girl hers.

“Wait, aren’t we having breakfast?” Chuck asked glancing in Minho’s direction. “We need it to keep our energy up” He added.

“We can eat when we’ve found shelter, it’s safer” Jorge explained gently as he pulled out his gun and took the safety off.

Chuck nodded in understanding. Teresa smiled at him and gently took his hand squeezing it, she seemed to have taken the role of a guardian when it came to Chuck recently. Of course everyone looked out for the younger boy but it always seemed that Teresa was by his side recently. Jorge scanned the group to make sure everyone was accounted for before he began to lead them once again. Brenda stayed towards the back with Teresa and Chuck, keeping an eye behind them at all times. Thomas took a deep breath and began to walk with the group through the rain, his legs ached as his feet began to sink into the mud and walking became a little harder. Thomas looked ahead but could barely see where they were going as the rain came down stronger, instead he decided to focus on the ground and not slipping over. 

A sudden grip on his arm made him jump and almost lose his balance. He glanced to the side to see it was Minho who had linked arms with him and began to walk beside him. Thomas smiled at the contact although he secretly knew that if he slipped over he would definitely be dragging Minho down with him.

“I’m tired” Minho mumbled to him sounding a bit like a child. This caused Thomas to chuckle slightly.

“Did you just join me so you could complain?” Thomas asked.

“No one else will listen” Minho said with a small laugh of his own. “I normally complain to Newt but I don’t think he’s in the mood to listen” He added.

“No, I don’t think he is” Thomas agreed with a sigh, he glanced up trying to see his blonde friend, instead all he could really see was Gally walking in front of them.

“I’m worried Thomas” Minho mumbled.

“Me too” Thomas replied quietly unable to say much more.

“We’ll be there for him though, he trusts us” Minho said, Thomas looked at Minho a little stunned for a second he sounded so sure that Newt trusted Thomas. Of course Thomas wanted Newt to trust him but he was never sure.

“How do you know he trusts me?” Thomas asked, Minho chuckled and shot Thomas a smirk but didn’t reply.

Thomas sighed at the lack of answer but didn’t ask again. Instead he just focused on walking. The rain had yet to let up and Thomas could feel his hair plastered to his forehead, he shivered slightly as the cold seeped through his wet clothes to his bare skin which was now covered in goosebumps.

“How far do you think we are from their group?” Thomas asked Minho.

“According to Brenda not far, we should be there soon” Minho explained.

“You asked her?” 

“Yeah, I spoke to her last night after you went to sleep, she switched with Gally on watch” Minho said and it was Thomas’s turn to smirk.

“Oh really?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“Shut up” Minho let go of Thomas to shove him gently. Thomas laughed and luckily managed to stay upright.

“Guys?” Chuck’s worried voice was suddenly heard over the rain. Thomas stopped and turned to look at the boy.

“Chuck?” He asked as he spotted the boys worried face, he had stopped walking and was staring at Teresa who stood beside him.

Thomas could see that Teresa was shaking quite badly and something told him it wasn’t just from the cold. Minho, who had also turned, stepped forward frowning in concern. Thomas followed suit and as he got a bit closer he could see that Teresa was gasping for breath, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to calm herself down.

“Teresa? What’s wrong?” Thomas stepped closer reaching out for her, he quickly retracted his hand as she flinched away.

“What’s going on?” Brenda asked standing behind Chuck and Teresa. Thomas noticed that the others had stopped walking and were now watching too.

“I-I don’t know she just stopped walking and started breathing weird” Chuck tried to explain. Teresa moved her hands and put them on her head frowning looking like she was almost in pain.

“Is it your ability?” Thomas asked her trying to remain as calm as he could. Teresa thankfully seemed to hear him and gave a quick nod.

“I-I...I can hear something...I’m not doing anything but...I can hear something’s thoughts” Teresa stuttered out between gasps for air.

“What can you hear?” Aris spoke up from somewhere behind Thomas.

“Something bad...something angry” Teresa whispered with a wince of pain, her hands gripping her hair slightly.

“Is it Cranks?” Jorge asked already scanning the area with his gun raised.

“No, no it’s human I-I think? It’s watching us” Teresa whispered. “Someones messing with my head” She added her voice cracking.

The group all began cautiously looking around. Thomas couldn’t see anyone around them though the rain was reducing his visibility severely. Brenda had stepped forward putting a gentle arm around Teresa to support the girl, Brenda had a gun in her other hand as she scanned the area.

“I see something” Frypan spoke up. 

Everyone quickly looked in his direction and followed his gaze as he looked outwards. At first Thomas couldn't see anything but then his eyes landed on it. Miles ahead of them a group of people could be seen, it was a small group Thomas wasn’t sure of the exact number but they were stood watching them. Thomas felt a shiver run down his spine as he could feel them staring straight at them. Straight at him.


	27. All hell breaks loose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope its relatively easy to follow, I'm not the best at action scenes but I hope this works :) Also a bit of a short chapter sorry but an action packed one.

“Who are they?”

“I can’t tell”

“Do you think they are Cranks?”

“No, they’re too still”

Thomas glanced around listening to his friends whisper as if they could be heard from this distance. The figures had yet to move but they continued to watch Thomas and his friends. Thomas could still see Teresa trembling out of the corner of his eyes, it was like she couldn’t control it. Brenda huffed growing irritated with the lack of movement, Thomas heard the distinct sound of the safety being taken off her gun.

“Brenda wait!” Jorge hissed shaking his head despite the fact he held his own gun in a tight grip.

A deathly silence fell over the land as neither group made a move. The only sound that could be heard was the patter of the rain as it hit the ground. It began to grow heavier and heavier until Thomas could barely see in front of him. A sense of dread and fear took over his body and his hands began to tremble. Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t him. Thomas was scared, of course he was, but this fear was different. This fear was not his. It was being forced upon him. A familiar feeling of emotions that were not his own caused Thomas’s stomach to twist as realisation dawned on him.

“Alby” He whispered as his breathing began to quicken and a vice grip seized his chest.

“Alby! Alby it’s Alby!” Thomas began to shout almost hysterically. “This is his ability I know it is” 

“What? No he wouldn’t-” Chuck didn’t even get to finish his sentence as a deafening scream suddenly overwhelmed them.

Thomas cried out in pain as his eardrums quivered with the sound. He clasped his hands over his ears to try and lessen the effect. This didn’t work. He knew this ability too, he’d seen it. One of the boys back at the lab had used a scream like this against the Grievers, except now it was different. It was far more powerful. 

The rain stopped as suddenly as it had started and Thomas’s vision was restored. The ringing in his ears had yet to stop but he could barely focus on that as now the rain had stopped he could clearly see Alby stood a mere meter away. He looked so different, covered in cuts and bruises but with an emotionless face. His eyes were dark and seemed to hold no indication that he recognised his friends. Stood beside him were a few other boys from the lab, all in a similar condition. Thomas recognised them as Ben, Winston, Zart and Jeff.

“Alby? What is this? What’s going on?” Minho asked, slightly shouting as his hearing was just as muffled as everyone else's. He received no answer. Instead Brenda and Jorge both raised their guns.

“Do you know these kids?” Jorge asked, his finger hovering over the trigger.

“They’re from the lab like us but...they didn’t escape” Chuck explained nervously. Brenda’s eyes widened as she seemed to realise something.

“They’re fully trained and brainwashed, they have to be” Brenda said taking a step forward with her gun raised.

Thomas barely got a second to comprehend that information before Brenda tried to pull the trigger. Zart quickly raised his hand, his face still void of emotion, and with this gesture the grass around them began to move under his command. Long blades of grass wrapped themselves around Brenda’s wrist, dragging her down onto her knees and forcing her arms behind her back causing her to drop the gun in the process. Jorge tried to step in but he quickly ended up in a similar position.

“No! Let them go!” Thomas found himself shouting before he could think. This caused Ben to step forward and quickly throw a punch in Thomas’s direction. Instinctively Thomas dodged the hit but he wasn’t quick enough to dodge the second one as Ben’s fist connected with his head sending him through the air he landed roughly on the ground.

“No!” Thomas heard Newt scream before all hell broke loose.

Thomas groaned in pain, trying to sit up as his friends were forced into fighting the other group. Alby and the others were clearly outnumbered and yet they barely seemed fazed as one by one they batted away Thomas’s friends using their own, clearly far more enhanced, abilities. Minho raced around the group landing hit after hit until Ben reached out and managed to grab him causing him to come to a screeching halt. Ben had a tight grip on Minho’s throat and lifted his feet off the ground. Upon seeing this Thomas immediately forced himself to his feet and ran for the guns that had been dropped. Winston raised his own hand and immediately the rain began again sharp and heavy. Thomas skidded across the ground and grabbed the closest gun he could immediately raising it but he hesitated, unable to see clearly ahead of him.

A loud thud was heard as Minho was suddenly dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. Thomas squinted struggling to watch as an unseen force barrelled into Ben. It didn’t take the boy down but it was enough to make him stumble. This small victory didn’t last long as Jeff opened his mouth and let out another booming scream causing Thomas to once again cry out in pain and cover his ears. This loud sound caused Chuck to lose concentration as he suddenly appeared visible again beside Ben. Thomas felt a suffocating fear come over him once again as his vision became blurred, he could no longer see Chuck and Ben but only their silhouettes. Thomas watched in horror as Ben’s figure seemed to pull out a blade from thin air and raise it above his head ready to strike Chuck down.

“Chuck!” Thomas screamed and suddenly he could see clearly again. Chuck was no longer near Ben and instead Ben was struggling to pin a fighting Gally to the ground. Thomas shook his head and looked around. What he had just seen wasn’t real, but how? His eyes finally landed on Alby as the boy had been watching him. Alby could control their emotions, could he now also make them see things?

“Thomas get up!” Thomas heard Brenda scream as she finally clawed her way free with the help of Teresa. 

Thomas watched as the girls began to run towards him. He didn’t know why until he turned and saw what looked like the stone columns that had been a part of the old building. They were floating above him seconds away from crushing him. Before he could react a force slammed into him, moving him out of the way. Thomas groaned in pain and looked up to see Newt sitting on top of him.

“I got you” Newt whispered breathlessly looking down at him. Thomas nodded a little breathless himself and looked around. To his horror, he saw a gun pointed towards the two of them. He quickly grabbed Newt and pulled the blonde down on top of him, rolling over so he shielded him as the shot just missed them.

“I got you too” Thomas couldn’t help but squeak back, his heart thudding against his chest at the near miss. Newt was speechless, he simply stared back with wide terrified eyes.

“Brenda stop!” Thomas heard Teresa scream, he got off of Newt and looked around. His eyes landed on Teresa as she tried to wrestle the gun from Brenda’s hand.

“What are you doing?!” Jorge shouted finally breaking free.

“She’s lost it!” Aris filled him in before he shape-shifted into a small bird. He began pecking at their attackers faces unable to transform into anything bigger or more powerful.

Teresa screamed slightly as the gun went off again but she didn’t relent, instead she kicked Brenda’s legs from underneath her and went tumbling into the grass with her trying to pin her down.

“She’s not herself! Her mind is being corrupted I can feel it!” Teresa struggled to say as she continued to wrestle the weapon from Brenda.

“It’s Alby! He can mess with your head!” Thomas shouted.

“Someone needs to stop Winston! My Ability doesn’t work with this rain” Frypan shouted from somewhere. 

“If you use your ability now the whole field will catch fire!” Jorge quickly warned him.

Thomas looked around and gasped as he spotted Ben repeatedly bringing his fists down upon Gally who lay motionless on the floor. Thomas quickly took off running and launched at Ben tackling him off of his friend. Thomas landed painfully and rolled slightly but quickly got up just in time to block a hit from Ben. He bit back a cry of pain as he felt his arm almost crumble under the force of Ben’s hit, Thomas knew he must have had some kind of enhanced strength. Thomas knew he wouldn’t win this fight but he had to at least keep Ben away from his friends. Thomas quickly broke out of the hold and slid in-between Ben’s legs getting behind him, he then kicked the boys back as hard as he could.

“Tommy! No! Leave him alone!” Thomas was distracted by Newt’s screams, he looked over to the boy confused until he saw his eyes. Newt wasn’t looking at him, he wasn’t really looking anywhere but he was seeing something. 

“Tommy! No!” Newt continued to scream dropping to his knees, his hands gripping his hair as he continued to watch something that wasn’t there.

“Newt! It’s not real! Alby’s doing this! It’s not-” Thomas didn’t get to finish his sentence as his breath got caught in his throat. Minho had begun to run towards Newt but was stopped by a rock slamming into him at full force, sending him crashing to the ground, he lay motionless and bleeding.

“Minho!” Thomas managed to shout before he felt something hit his head. He fell to the ground instantly. Everything around him was spinning and he felt bile in his throat as he was unable to get up. His vision began darkening and the last thing he heard was a gut wrenching screech from Newt as a red shock-wave burst from his body. Thomas knew nothing after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for making the group fight these boys, I have nothing against the characters I like them all this is just part of my plot.


	28. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for all the comments I love reading them and finding out what parts of the story you enjoy :)

“Thomas?”

Thomas heard the distant echo of a female voice. He tried to open his eyes but they felt as if they were weighed down. He was vaguely aware of a ringing in his ears which he felt like he should get used to. A soft hand rested on his cheek gently stroking it in a circular motion. As he became more aware of his surroundings the smell of blood hit him, it wasn’t overwhelming but its presence alone made his stomach twist uncomfortably. 

“Thomas?” The voice repeated slowly dragging him into a conscious state.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the colour blue. Two bright blue eyes were watching him as a girl knelt beside him. Thomas blinked in an attempt to focus his eyes and soon the picture became more clear. It was Teresa.

“Oh...hi” Thomas mumbled, his voice coming out scratchy and broken.

“Okay great you’re alive!” Teresa sighed with relief removing her hand from his cheek to brush her hair back.

“You thought I was dead?” Thomas frowned slightly concerned about the state he was in if he had been assumed dead.

“...No?” Teresa said unconvincingly. 

Thomas tilted his head slightly trying to see past Teresa when a wave of pain hit him, he groaned and lifted a hand to his head remembering the hit he had taken. That was when the rest came back to him and he immediately tried to scramble into a sitting position despite the pain.

“Newt? Where’s Newt? And Minho? And-”

“Thomas stop!” Teresa rested her hands on his shoulders pushing him back down, as she moved Thomas got a better look at the surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that the long grass they had been in was gone or atleast a large patch of it was. The grass looked like it had been ripped from the ground leaving behind a patch of dirt. The second thing he noticed as he looked around was there were people he didn’t recognise.

“Brenda!” Teresa suddenly called out over her shoulder. Thomas tilted his head to look around her again and spotted Brenda kneeling beside Minho. Thomas sighed in relief as his friend was awake and sat up allowing Brenda to gently dab at a cut on his face. Teresa caught Brenda’s attention and the girl mumbled something to Minho squeezing his arm before making her way over.

“Who are these people?” Thomas whispered to Brenda once she had reached his side. He watched them cautiously as they seemed to manoeuvre around the group.

“Thomas relax they are part of my group” Brenda said gently tilting his head to look at her.

“How-”

“We aren’t far from where we were heading and we have injured so Jorge sent me ahead and I brought some of the group to help us” Brenda explained.

“But I thought you said you would have to speak to them about helping us because we’re-” Thomas was cut off as Brenda put her hand over his mouth.

“They don’t know who you are or what you can do” Brenda hissed quickly. “You guys really needed help so I just told them we picked you guys up and that we were caught in a blast during a fight with another group” She continued.

“Are we ever going to tell them?” Teresa asked quietly.

“Of course but I can’t stand the idea of abandoning you guys so, we’ll go back, patch you up and then we’ll talk” Brenda explained finally taking her hand away from Thomas.

“You’re okay with lying to your group?” Thomas asked frowning.

“We’re not lying, it’s complicated but it’s for your benefit so just please...keep quiet” Brenda sighed looking like she had aged ten years during the span of the conversation.

Thomas sighed leaning his head back once again the banging in his head having tripled. He took a few deep breaths trying to ease the pain and process all the information that had been thrown at him.

“Where’s Newt?” Thomas mumbled trying to sit up again, he wasn’t stopped this time which he was thankful for.

“He’s with Frypan” Teresa said quietly.

Thomas looked around trying to spot his friend. He once again saw Minho and winced finally looking at him properly he noticed bruising on his cheeks and multiple cuts across his face. Sat near him was Frypan with his back to Thomas, he seemed to be looking down at something. Thomas slowly got up with the help of Brenda and stumbled over to Frypan.

“Hey” He mumbled as he landed heavily beside the boy. Frypan flinched in surprise but soon relaxed recognising Thomas.

“Hey” Frypan mumbled back looking slightly concerned as he took in Thomas’s appearance, for the second time Thomas worried about the way he looked. That was soon forgotten when he looked down and finally saw what Frypan had been staring at. Newt was laying there.

“Is he okay?” Thomas asked quickly crawling closer to his friend a sick feeling swirling in his stomach once again.

“Yeah don’t worry he just exhausted himself” Frypan explained, Thomas frowned at him in confusion for a second before Frypan gestured to the damaged landscape. The blast of red popped back into Thomas’s memory.

“Oh” Thomas mumbled, this information had done little to quell his concern. He sat down beside Newt and watched him breathe for a few seconds, it helped calm him.

“I’ll go check on Chuck if you watch him, we’ll be moving to Brenda and Jorge’s base soon” Frypan said as he stood. Thomas nodded barely acknowledging the boy as he walked away. 

Thomas sighed and gently reached out lifting Newt slightly he settled the boys head in his lap. He kept him there watching him quietly for a few moments. The echo of Newt’s screech replayed over and over in Thomas’s head forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut. He moved his hand to rest it on Newt’s chest allowing himself to feel the movement as he breathed. A reminder that they were both somehow still alive.

Thomas wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that but it felt like forever before suddenly a voice cut into his thoughts and forced him to open his eyes. Minho smiled at Thomas gently and sat down in front of him.

“Hey” Minho mumbled again.

“Minho, I’m sorry I wanted to check on you but I had to-”

“It’s okay” Minho chuckled slightly. The smile looked so out of place surrounded by the cuts and bruises. “I get it” He added nodding down towards Newt.

“What happened?” Thomas asked.

“Before Newt went crazy or after?” Minho tried to joke weakly, when Thomas failed to laugh he cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“Sorry, force of habit” Minho mumbled. “I woke up to Brenda kneeling over me, she said something about Newt going nuts and everyone being hurt. I was the first one up so I just tried to help whoever I could, for the most part everyone is okay just a bit banged up. Thankfully Alby and the others are gone. Brenda brought these people from her group and they’re doing what they can to help us move to their base” Minho explained the basics.

“Do you trust them?” Thomas asked.

“I trust Brenda” Minho shrugged and that was enough for Thomas. A few moments of silence passed before Thomas spoke again.

“How’s your face?” Thomas asked awkwardly.

“Sore but still handsome as ever” Minho said with a smirk causing Thomas to smile slightly despite the circumstances.

“I think you hit your head Minho” Brenda suddenly appeared behind him causing him to jump.

“Excuse me?” Minho raised an eyebrow.

“Well you mentioned something about being handsome and I know hallucinations aren’t a good sign” Brenda smirked. Minho rolled his eyes shaking his head.

“You’re just not used to seeing such beauty in this world” Minho replied.

“You keep telling yourself that muscles, glad you seem to be feeling better” Brenda winked at him before looking at Thomas.

“We’re ready to move, Gally has agreed to carry Newt” She explained.

“I can do it” Thomas mumbled, his grip automatically tightening on his friend.

“You’re hurt” Brenda pointed out.

“So is Gally” Thomas replied quickly causing Brenda to sigh.

“He’s been looked over he’ll be okay for now” 

“Thomas it’s okay” Minho smiled at him reassuringly causing Thomas to sigh and finally nod.

“Come on then, the sooner we get there the sooner you can all be treated” Brenda said before walking away.

Thomas reluctantly allowed Gally to take Newt from him when the boy approached them. He kept a careful eye on his friends as Minho helped him stand and hooked their arms together. The group slowly began to move, led by Jorge and some of the strangers they continued across the field and slowly made their way back to Brenda and Jorge’s base. Thomas held onto Minho tightly unsure what to expect but he knew one thing for sure despite his trust of Brenda and Jorge, Thomas would not be letting his guard down anytime soon.


	29. The base

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Slightly longer chapter I hope you enjoy it! I tried to address some concerns and questions in the comments from the last chapter within this one without giving too much away. :)

Thomas froze as soon as the base came into view. Minho almost tripped due to the sudden stop but he seemed just as shocked as Thomas was. In front of them was a large building with about three floors and more windows than Thomas wanted to count. It had clearly been a hospital at some point but not anymore. Most of the windows were smashed allowing Thomas to see straight inside. It was dark but full of life, he could see people wandering the corridors or sitting in rooms not yet noticing the approaching group. The building looked so alive despite its slightly crumbling and dull state it was buzzing with people. Stood outside the main entrance were two large men holding guns seemingly guarding the place. Surrounding the building was a small wooden fence that seemed to have been thrown together with random nails, some sticking out. Wrapped around most parts of the wood was barbed wire which Thomas could only assume they had stolen from somewhere. In front of the entrance was a small gate that seemed to barely be standing but he supposed this was enough to keep anyone back long enough for the group to notice them.

“Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying” Brenda called back to them as she approached the gate and the two men.

The men nodded and pushed open the gate for Brenda. She and the rest of the group walked towards the entrance, Thomas and Minho quickly caught up. The glass in the entrance doors had been smashed and was now replaced with wooden slats nailed on by the group. Pushing the doors open the group entered the building and Thomas immediately noticed the remnants of its old life. Faded posters still clung to the walls discussing health and medicine, something that wasn’t as easy to come by anymore. An old desk was just to the left of the entrance, no one was sat at it but it was clear the desk was still in use as there was a piece of paper sat on it with a list of what looked like names. Thomas didn’t get a chance to read them before Brenda was leading them down a corridor. The strangers that had been helping them so far took this as a chance to leave, Thomas guessed they were heading to their own rooms.

Thomas looked ahead and chewed on his lip as he spotted Gally still carrying Newt. It seemed like Newt had yet to wake up which worried Thomas further. The sick feeling returned to his stomach the more he watched the still figure. What if he never woke up? What if his powers were still out of control? Would this new group stand for it? Thomas knew he would never let them hurt or abandon Newt but what was the alternative? Being thrown out to fend for themselves once again? If it meant keeping his friends safe it was worth it.

“I don’t like the look of these corridors” Minho mumbled beside him drawing Thomas out of his thoughts.

“Why?” Thomas asked glancing at the boy who was still holding onto his arm.

“They remind me of the lab” Minho shivered as he said the word. Thomas looked around and he could see the resemblance with the white walls and many doors but right now he was more concerned with his friends safety than the decor.

“We’re far away from that place don’t worry” He tried to sound confident but he was sure his voice shook.

“But what if they come and get us? What if that's why we saw Alby? Because they sent him to bring us back?” Minho frowned looking uncharacteristically scared for once.

“If that was the case why would they leave? After Newts...accident, why didn’t they take us then?” Thomas responded attempting to brush off the idea for Minho’s sake, despite the fact it did sound plausible. 

“I don’t know! None of it makes sense” Minho sighed.

“We’ll find out what their goal was” Jorge voice spoke up from behind them making the pair jump.

“How can you? They’re gone” Thomas asked glancing behind him as he spoke.

“Why are you so sure they’re gone?” Jorge asked frowning.

“Because...they weren’t there?” Thomas mumbled not really believing his own answer anymore.

“I think you’ll find that there are lots of places you can go to remain hidden around these parts” Jorge sighed. “I don’t think those friends of yours are really going to stay away so we need to find out what they want before they attack again”

Thomas didn’t bother to reply as guilt pooled in his stomach. The last thing he wanted to do was put these people in danger and if Alby and the group came back he didn’t know what could happen. That thought process didn’t last long as Brenda rounded a corner and began heading up a flight of stairs talking as she went.

“You guys will be staying on the top floor, we have some spare rooms up there for you and I will try to find you some dry clothes.” She announced as she continued upwards.

“The group will need a meeting to discuss your future here but we have agreed to tend to any wounds and let you rest first” She added. Thomas sighed in relief, at least they would get one night of peace here.

They reached the top of the last flight of stairs before walking through a door that led to another corridor. Brenda stopped in front of the first room and Thomas glanced through the window. There were four hospital beds inside, two on each side of the room. The glass of the window was broken which worried Thomas slightly he hoped those creatures, or cranks, couldn’t climb. The rest of the room was mostly bare but Thomas guessed that was because it wasn’t lived in. The curtains that Thomas assumed once divided the room were hanging beside the windows, one by each, pinned to the wall by a nail, Thomas could see there was a second nail on the other side of the window which the curtain could be hooked onto to block out light.

“Four of you can stay in here and the rest of you can stay next door. The rooms are identical so just take your pick” Brenda shrugged.

The group decided that Thomas, Minho, Newt and Teresa would stay in one room whilst Aris, Frypan, Chuck and Gally took the other. Gally gently lay Newt on one of the beds before he left for his own room. Thomas immediately sat on the edge of the bed to keep a close eye on Newt. Meanwhile Minho chose the bed opposite Newts. Taking a running jump he landed ungracefully on the bed, Thomas cringed as the bed creaked underneath him.

“You break that bed and I’ll break you” Brenda warned only half jokingly from the doorway. Minho rolled onto his side propping his head up with his arm to look at her.

“Is that a threat?” He asked feigning offence.

“Yes” Brenda replied in a deadpan tone causing Minho to chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t be able to break this bed alone” Minho winked at Brenda causing her to roll her eyes. Despite this Thomas could see a slight pink tint to her cheeks.

“You guys wait here, I’ll go get whatever spare clothes we have” She said before taking leaving the room. Through the walls Thomas could faintly hear Jorge talking to the others, probably about the same thing he had discussed with him and Minho.

Teresa walked over to the window and leaned out of it slightly to look around. Thomas frowned resisting the urge to pull her back from it as she stood on the tips of her toes to lean out. Minho rolled over to watch her curiously but he kept quiet. It was almost peaceful with the only noise being the faint sound of voices and footsteps below them and the wind whistling just outside. Thomas turned his attention back to Newt and reached out, he hesitated slightly with his hand hovering before he sighed and made the decision to take Newts hand. It wasn’t the first time they had held hands and Thomas hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

“I don’t think they’re too happy we’re here” Teresa suddenly said as she stepped back from the window and turned to face the boys.

“Who?” Minho frowned.

“I don’t know just the people here, I can hear some passing thoughts and none of them are singing our praises” Teresa shrugged.

"We'll let Brenda and Jorge deal with them" Thomas said quietly hoping they weren't causing too much trouble for the residents here.

“Do you do that alot?” Minho asked Teresa, sitting up and hugging his knees to his chest.

“I try to respect people's privacy unless I feel like there's a good reason” Teresa shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure no one was thinking of hurting us" She added in explanation gesturing vaguely to the window.

“Have you ever read my thoughts?” Minho asked wiggling his eyebrows in a way that made Teresa laugh.

“Only once when I was trying to find out what happened to you guys when you were kidnapped” Teresa said with a small smile. “I heard about where you were and who took you and...the fact that there were other people with you” She smirked as she said the last bit.

“I don’t like the way you said that” Minho shook his head. Teresa just shrugged again but didn’t say anything else on the matter.

“Are you two okay? Your face looks sore Minho” Thomas spoke up looking between the two.

“It is but I’ll live” Minho shrugged.

“I’m fine” Teresa also replied. Thomas looked at her and besides being covered in dirt and a few scratches on her hands she did look okay.

“How are you doing? No offence but you look like shit” Minho frowned at Thomas’s appearance causing him to sigh.

“I’m fine, I can’t really feel anything at the moment” Thomas said honestly. He knew he must look bad due to people's reactions and the faint smell of blood that seemed to be constantly invading his nose but he hadn’t really had a chance to focus on his injuries until now.

Just then Brenda re-entered the room with a pile of clothes in her hands. She unceremoniously dumped them on the floor before placing her hands on her hips and looking between them.

“These are all the spare clothes we have, it’s mostly jackets and trousers and I’m not sure what will fit but…” She trailed off with a shrug.

“Thanks” Thomas gave her a smile, she nodded back.

“There’s some food in the canteen for you, there isn’t much but there’s enough.” She explained. “Jorge has already taken the others down there, after you’ve eaten I’ll get one of our doctors to look you over” Minho immediately got off the bed and went to stand beside Brenda, Teresa smiled and followed him over.

“I’m gonna stay here with Newt” Thomas said quickly.

“Okay, we’ll bring you guys something back” Minho immediately seemed to understand. “Look after him” He added afterwards. Thomas nodded before watching Brenda lead the two out of the room.

Thomas squeezed Newt’s hand and brought his legs up to get more comfortable on the side of the bed. Newt didn’t stir and the only sound that could be heard was his soft breathing. Thomas took a moment to finally breathe and try to relax. Everyone was safe and no one was seriously injured. His worry for Newt was still swirling but that seemed out of his control. He knew he cared for him just as he cared for everyone else in the group but...this was different. He’d always felt closest to him, he was the first person he really felt trust for and since then he’d never doubted it. The care he felt for Newt was different, stronger in a way the more he thought about it. He knew he’d do everything he could to protect all of his friends but Newt...Thomas sucked in a sharp breath as he was suddenly struck with a thought. He would give everything to keep Newt safe, including his life. Thomas bit down on his lip the more he thought about that the more sure he became of that thought. It was terrifying but it felt right.

Thomas shook his head needing a moment to escape his thoughts as they became both more confusing and more clear if that was even possible. He squeezed Newt’s hand again before letting go and standing up. He paced the room for a few seconds trying to organise his thoughts. Why had he only just reached this conclusion? Had he always felt this way deep down? He’d never had much of a chance to reflect on his feelings as the group was constantly running. What did this even mean? He cared for Newt, maybe more than anyone else but why? Thomas ran his fingers through his hair shaking his head slightly, he was beginning to get a headache from all this thinking which he was sure Minho would find amusing if he were here.

Looking for a distraction Thomas’s eyes found the pile of clothes Brenda had left. He shrugged to himself and stepped towards them he knelt down and sifted through them curiously. At first nothing really caught his eye, a few dark coloured jackets and some black trousers that were slightly torn clearly once belonging to someone else. Thomas was sure he wouldn’t take anything from the pile when something caught his eye at the very bottom. Something red. He reached down and pulled it from the pile to find it was a jacket. It was dark red, almost maroon, and seemed to be made of a leather-like material. Thomas smiled as the colour reminded him of Newt’s ability. He stood up and carefully slipped the jacket on, it seemed to fit perfectly. He held his arms out in front of him observing the way the jacket looked and smiled more.

“It suits you” A weak voice made Thomas jump and spin around so quickly he almost lost his balance. Newt’s eyes were open and he was laying on his side watching Thomas with an amused smile on his face despite looking tired.

“Newt!” Thomas embarrassingly squeaked as relief flooded through him, and slight embarrassment at being caught off guard.

“Hi” Newt whispered and that was all it took to snap Thomas out of his shock. He quickly hurried over to the boy and leaned down pulling him into a hug best he could. Newt let out a weak laugh and hugged Thomas back tightly almost pulling him down onto the bed completely.

“You’re okay” Thomas whispered burying his face in Newt’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m in a better condition than you seem to be” Newt mumbled, concern bleeding into his tone.

“I’m fine” Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle as Newt seemed more concerned about Thomas than himself.

It seemed that neither of them really wanted to let go so they stayed like that for a few seconds before Thomas reluctantly released Newt so he could look down at him. Newt sat up slightly once Thomas let go he winced and reached up resting his hand on Thomas’s cheek.

“What happened?” He asked clearly looking over Thomas’s wounds. 

“You don’t remember?” Thomas asked trying not to lean into the touch.

“I remember walking and the rain but the rest is kind of hazy” Newt shrugged. Thomas bit his lip for a moment not wanting to remind Newt of what he had done, at least not yet, he knew Newt would feel terrible.

“Don’t worry about it I’ll explain later, you should rest for now” Thomas decided to say not wanting to lie to Newt. Newt frowned a little but soon nodded seeming to trust Thomas’s answer. Newt looked around and finally seemed to realise that he didn’t recognise where he was, he removed his hand from Thomas’s face and sat up quickly looking a bit nervous as he scanned the room.

“Where are we? Where is everyone else?” Newt asked quickly. Thomas gently put his hand on his shoulder to ground him before he began to panic.

“It’s okay, we’re safe. We’re at Jorge and Brenda’s base and everyone is in the canteen getting food” Thomas quickly explained causing Newt to relax and nod.

“Oh, why aren’t you in the canteen?” He asked. Thomas felt his cheeks warm at the question. 

“I-I wanted to stay with you” He admitted awkwardly unsure why he felt so nervous all of a sudden.

“Oh…” Newt mumbled beginning to smile, he looked down at the sheets as he spoke. “Really?” He then asked.

“Um...yeah?” Thomas mumbled wishing he knew what Newt was thinking. 

“Thank you” Newt said looking back up at Thomas smiling even more now, Thomas couldn't help but smile back. A silence fell over them as Newt looked up into Thomas’s eyes. Thomas stared back unable to bring himself to look away. He’d always liked Newt’s eyes, they were so big and kind and....beautiful. They were beautiful. Newt was beautiful. Thomas had always known this but the word had failed him until now. 

“You know…” Newt whispered making Thomas realise how close he was as he had begun to lean up. “That jacket really does suit you” He continued with a smile.

“Thanks... I think red is my new favourite colour” Thomas mumbled back unable to stop himself, he began to lean down. They both hesitated just inches apart.

“Do you trust me?” Newt asked, Thomas nodded without hesitation.

Newt smiled and with this he reached up and placed his hand on Thomas’s cheek pulling him down slightly so their lips could finally meet. With this kiss everything swirling in Thomas's head finally made sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Romance is not something I'm very good at writing so I really hope I did these two justice, let me know what you guys think :) Sorry if the dialogue was a bit cheesy I tried my best haha


	30. A white lie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I know it's not the most exciting but some conversations are needed. Thanks for the comments and kudos I really appreciate them and it reassures me that people are still reading this haha

“So…”

“So…?”

“That was…”

“Nice?”

“Yeah” 

Thomas couldn’t help but smile as Newt labelled the kiss as nice. It was nice. More than nice, it was amazing but Thomas wasn’t sure he could say that without going completely red. The two boys now both lay on Newt’s bed facing each other, noses only inches apart. Thomas wasn’t sure exactly when he had gotten onto the bed but he knew he wasn’t moving anytime soon. 

A peaceful silence fell over them as Newt closed his eyes and shuffled slightly closer, if that was even possible. Thomas bit his lip and reached out resting his hand on Newts side running it up and down in a slow and gentle motion. He knew that they should probably talk about what had just happened, more than just confirming that they had both enjoyed it, but for now he was content to just lay there in Newts company. 

The peaceful silence was quickly broken as the door burst open, smacking against the wall as the offender marched into the room. The noise caused Thomas to flinch and quickly try to check who had entered the room, unfortunately this quick movement soon sent him spiralling off the bed and onto the floor. Newt yelped in surprise and sat up slightly glancing at the door before sighing and looking over the side of the bed down at Thomas who lay sprawled out on the floor.

“Are you okay?” Newt asked him quietly, Thomas nodded quickly scrambling back to his feet.

“Newt! You’re awake!” Thomas turned and realised it was Minho who had disturbed them as a blur blew past him and he suddenly found Minho sat on the bed pulling Newt into a hug.

“Minho, we’re not supposed to be using our abilities” Teresa sighed as she closed the door behind her with her foot and approached the bed carrying two plates of food.

“What? Why not?” Newt asked from over Minho’s shoulder as he held onto his friend tightly.

“Brenda and Jorge haven't told their group who we are yet just in case they don’t take it well” Teresa explained handing a plate to Thomas who smiled thankfully. 

“You okay?” Minho asked pulling away and studying Newt closely, Newt tilted his head and frowned taking in the state of Minho’s face. 

“Yeah I’m fine” Newt said almost offhandedly. “What happened to you? And Thomas? Why are you hurt?” Newt questioned looking between his friend and his...Thomas.

“You don’t remember?” Minho frowned.

“No, not really I think I must have hit my head or something” Newt tried to explain. Thomas sighed guessing Newt’s memory problems had something to do with Alby messing with him a bit more than he had with everyone else.

Thomas chewed his bit and glanced worriedly at Minho who returned his gaze. No one spoke for a few seconds, unsure how to handle this. Thomas sighed looking back at Newt who gave him a pleading look that he just couldn’t deny. Thomas handed his plate of food to Minho before sitting down on the other side of Newt, he went to take his hand but hesitated glancing towards their friends. Newt didn’t seem to mind and simply reached out and took Thomas’s hand, holding it on his lap.

“We were attacked” Thomas began gently rubbing his thumb back and forth on Newts hand. Minho and Teresa glanced at each other but kept quiet. “It was Alby, Ben, Winston, Zart and Jeff” 

“What? Why would they hurt us?” Newt frowned.

“They weren’t themselves, the lab must have somehow continued their experiments on them” Thomas explained gently. “We think the lab may have sent them after us”

“Where are they now?” Newt asked quietly.

“We don’t know but Jorge thinks they’re still close” Thomas shrugged.

“So they’re the ones who hurt us? Who hurt you?” Newt asked looking over Thomas’s injuries with a frown. Thomas saw Minho and Teresa tense at this question. Yes, Alby and the others had caused some of their injuries but the others...Thomas knew Newt had some hand in them when he lost control.

Taking a deep breath Thomas squeezed Newts hand drawing the boys eyes back to his. He knew this would crush Newt, to know he had been the one to hurt his friends would be hard for him to deal with and Thomas hated that. Looking into Newts dark eyes so full of love and concern made Thomas’s heart ache and he made a decision that he was almost sure he would eventually regret.

“Yes, they did all of this and they hurt you” Thomas said with a slight waver in his voice. Minho and Teresa’s eyes widened but they said nothing.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I wish I could remember” Newt sighed believing Thomas. “So they attacked you and then just left? Nothing else happened?” He then asked. 

“Yeah, we fought back pretty well so we must have driven them back for a while” Thomas tried to explained.

“Anyway, that doesn’t matter now we’re safe here until we can get back on our feet” Thomas quickly changed the subject, he reached over and took the other plate from Teresa placing it in Newts lap. 

“You should eat, you’re probably still pretty weak” Newt smiled and nodded, letting go of Thomas’s hand to take a piece of bread from the plate beginning to nibble at it.

“Thomas? Shall we go and find Brenda to see where all the doctors are?” Minho asked with a slightly stern voice that almost made Thomas want to say no.

“Okay” He reluctantly said, he stood up from the bed giving Newts arm a gentle squeeze before he headed for the door. Minho placed the plate he was holding down on the bed and gave a friendly smile to Newt before following Thomas out of the room.

The two walked a few paces down the corridor in awkward silence before Minho turned to Thomas and stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest. Thomas stopped and began to nervously fiddle with the sleeves of his jacket whilst he waited for Minho to speak.

“What was that?” Minho asked frowning.

“What was what?”

“Lying to Newt!” Minho hissed angrily.

“I didn’t lie! Alby and the others did do this to us!”

“Yeah but Newt also lost control and almost destroyed the place. Doesn’t he have a right to know that?” Minho asked.

“It would crush him Minho! He doesn’t need to know he hurt us” Thomas insisted.

“It’s his ability, if something is wrong he needs to know” Minho poked a finger into Thomas’s chest. Thomas sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor.

“I know I’m sorry I just don’t want him to get upset, he needs to get his strength back first” Thomas weakly explained. 

“I know you care about him but so do I and I hate lying to him, he’s my friend” Minho began to speak gently.

“I’m just trying to protect him, at least for a little while I promise I will tell him soon just not yet” Thomas said.

“Are you sure this is for the best?” Minho asked gently.

“Yeah, I just want him to feel safe and maybe even happy just for a little while, he deserves that don’t you think?” Thomas asked gaining a nod from Minho. “I will tell him when he’s stronger and we can all be there for him but right now please just let me protect him” Thomas begged. He knew Minho was right and they would have to tell Newt eventually but Thomas couldn’t bare to hurt him and maybe if he waited a little while he could find an easier way to tell Newt, maybe even when they’ve figured out how to stop him losing control of his abilities.

Minho took a few moments to reply seemingly at war with himself. He bit his lip and glanced back towards the room for a few moments before he sighed and looked at Thomas.

“Okay, we don’t have to tell him right now I don’t want to hurt him either” He began. “But, we will tell him soon I’m not gonna let you lie to him forever” He added in a more stern tone. 

“I know! I promise I won’t” Thomas quickly insisted. “I really do care about him” He added feeling his cheeks burn slightly. Minho rolled his eyes in a friendly manner.

“Everyone knows you do” Minho said with a small smile. “All I’m going to say is next time you’re making out on a hospital bed try and lock the door first” He smirked.

“What? How...how did you…” Thomas stuttered suddenly feeling quite flustered. “Did Teresa read…?” He tried to asked.

“Please, I don’t need Teresa’s ability to know what I almost walked in on” Minho chuckled shaking his head before he turned and headed back to the room.

Thomas stayed put for a few moments trying to compose himself. Despite the light tone the conversation had taken he still felt the guilt swirling around in his stomach. He was doing what was best for Newt and he knew he would tell him the truth eventually. A little white lie wouldn’t hurt anybody, right?


	31. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoy! Bit of a weird chapter today but I wanted the group to have a moment of calm.

The sun had finally begun to set by the time Brenda announced the meeting was beginning. Thomas huffed as he felt his hand being pulled away from the plaster on his forehead covering a few scratches he’d gained earlier. When the doctor finally looked at their injuries Thomas got a look at his face in a small hand-held mirror and understood why people had reacted how they did. His face was covered in scratches, most not too deep, and a few bruises littered his forehead. The same hand settled in his own and gave it a squeeze causing him to smile. Looking up Thomas’s attention was brought back to Brenda who still stood in the doorway.

“Are we allowed to sit in on this meeting? Since you’ll be talking about us” Gally asked from where he lounged across Teresa’s bed much to her annoyance, the others had joined them in their room soon after they’d eaten and had yet to leave.

“No, I think it’s best if we do the talking, just stay in here for a few hours” Brenda ordered before she turned and left the room closing the door behind her, thankfully not locking it.

“Teresa is there any chance you can listen in on them?” Aris asked eagerly from where he stood by the window.

“Aris!” Newt scolded from his position beside Thomas.

“What? They’re talking about us we have a right to know what they’re saying” Aris shrugged.

“You turn into a little rodent and go spy then” Teresa huffed crossing her arms.

“Because a rat scurrying about would be less obvious than mind reading?” Aris scoffed sarcastically shaking his head.

“Brenda said we should just stay here” Minho pointed out as he stood up from his bed and headed over to the pile of clothes that still sat in the centre of the room, other than Thomas no-one had really looked through it yet.

“Since when do you do as you’re told?” Gally asked raising his eyebrow at Minho with a suspicious look on his face. 

“Since they fed us and cleaned our wounds” Minho replied quickly avoiding eye contact with Gally as he sifted through the clothes.

“Can we not just get along?” Newt asked, sounding mildly irritated as he looked between the group. Most members of the group had the courtesy to at least look a little sheepish and no one dared argue.

“Hey Chuck I’ve got something for you” Minho suddenly called out, the young boy who had been quietly sitting on the edge of Minho’s bed perked up. Minho stood and held up an old camouflage patterned jumper.

“For when your ability fails you” Minho winked with a laugh. Thomas couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him when he set eyes on the jumper and soon some of the others joined in.

“Very funny Minho” Chuck shook his head with a small smile on his face. He stood and trotted over to Minho taking the jumper before shoving it in the taller boys face.

“You wear it, Brenda might like it” Chuck winked playfully causing Thomas to laugh once again. Minho’s cheeks flushed slightly as he shoved the jumper back onto the floor.

“What are you laughing at?” Minho glared at Thomas who held his hands up in a mock surrender and tried to stifle his laughter. Once Thomas had let go of his hand Newt stood from the bed and made his way over to the clothes looking through the pile himself.

“Looking for a wedding outfit?” Minho joked sending a wink in Thomas’s direction when Newt blushed but didn’t reply.

“Minho, I’ll set those clothes on fire if you don’t stop with these terrible jokes” Frypan smirked wiggling his fingers in the direction of the clothes chuckling when Minho protectively threw himself in front of them.

Thomas watched Newt with a small smile as he looked through the clothes curiously. Thomas was sure he would look great in any one of those items but he wasn’t about to say that in front of everyone. Newt let out a small noise of excitement when he found something. He stood and pulled a small black leather jacket from the pile, he examined it for a few seconds before slipping it on, it fit his slightly skinnier frame quite nicely.

“Oh hey Newt, these gloves might go nice with that” Minho spoke up holding out a pair of black gloves.

“Is this another attempt at a joke Minho?” Newt asked suspiciously though he took them and slipped one on. Thomas noticed they were leather and fingerless.

“No, I’m trying to be nice” Minho scoffed. “Maybe I was a fashion designer before the world burned” He added placing a hand on his hip.

“I wonder if there's a gag in that pile” Gally huffed causing Chuck to laugh and begin looking for one.

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood Gally” Minho shrugged. “And besides we should look presentable for our new group” He added sifting through the pile once more.

Newt came and sat beside Thomas once again, taking off the gloves and putting them in his jacket pocket before he took Thomas’s hand and leaned his head against his shoulder. Thomas in return rested his head on top of Newts and watched as for the next few minutes Minho went around handing out articles of clothing to each member of the group trying to ‘fix their image’ as he called it. Gally was given a tight grey shirt with short sleeves to allow for his bigger arms. Teresa and Chuck were both given a jumper, Teresa’s black and Chuck’s a dark green. Aris took a grey hoodie which he slipped on immediately and Frypan took a new pair of black trousers as his own had been scuffed in the recent fight. Minho himself grinned as he put on a black material jacket and a pair of black sunglasses which he had found towards the bottom.

“You look ridiculous” Teresa said as she pulled the jumper over her head.

“Jealous?” Minho pulled the glasses down and raised an eyebrow at Teresa who just shook her head.

“Now that you’ve had your fun can we get back to discussing how to eavesdrop?” Gally spoke up.

“I thought we agreed not to?” Newt frowned at him.

“No, we got distracted” Gally pointed out causing Newt to huff in annoyance. Thomas placed an arm around him and rubbed his shoulder gently.

“Leave it Gally, we’re doing as we’re told” Thomas warned.

“If we’re careful they won’t know we did anything” Aris was quick to point out.

“I’m not reading anyones mind” Teresa put her foot down with a stern look. 

“Fine, Chuck?” The young boy looked up a bit startled. “You could turn invisible and listen in” Aris finished.

“I…” Chuck chewed his lip looking nervously around the group.

“Chuck you don’t have to do this” Thomas said quickly with a friendly smile towards the boy, he secretly hoped this would be enough to stop Chuck from even considering it.

“But what if they’re discussing killing us or throwing us out? We need to know” Aris quickly spoke up. 

“What if Chuck gets caught?” Frypan asked looking unsure but not completely against the idea.

“He won’t” Aris dismissed.

“I don’t have complete control over my power yet” Chuck started nervously. “But I could try?”

“Chuck no” Thomas had finally had enough, he let go of Newt and stood up making his way over to the younger boy he placed an arm around him and gave Aris a stern look. “Don’t make him do this” He warned. Aris huffed and shared a strange look with Gally before he shrugged.

“Fine, I’ll do it” Aris decided. “Does anyone know where this meeting is being held?” He asked. Thomas sighed and shook his head pulling Chuck a bit closer to him.

“Teresa-?” Gally began.

“Don’t even ask” Teresa warned with a glare. Aris sighed once again but nodded and headed towards the door opening it slightly he peered out into the corridor looking both ways before he turned back towards the group.

“I’ll find it myself and I’ll come back with some answers” He promised before he shifted into a mouse. Thomas watched curiously as the little mouse scurried out the room and took a right.

“This is a bad idea” Newt sighed hugging his knees to his chest.

“It’s for our own good, they’ve helped us so far but we need to be ready in case they turn on us” Gally explained.

“Gally may have a point” Frypan spoke cautiously. “We need to do what’s best for us as a group” 

“Why would they hurt us?” Chuck frowned.

“Because from what I can tell the world is on fire and the people who have survived don’t trust easily” Gally spoke in a harsh tone. “They’re not going to trust a bunch of lab rats without a good reason”

“Our abilities aren’t dangerous” Chuck crossed his arms with a slight frown on his face. Thomas felt anger flood him when he spotted some members of the group glancing towards Newt. Minho had warned them to keep quiet for now but they weren’t being as subtle as Thomas had hoped.

“They don’t know that Chuck” Frypan said gently reaching out and placing a hand on his arm.

“Then we should tell them” Chuck said with a confident nod. Thomas frowned and gently tightened his grip on the boy.

“We’ll let Brenda and Jorge do the talking,” Minho spoke up. Unfortunately this didn’t seem to convince Chuck as the boy quickly twisted out of Thomas’s hold and headed for the door. 

“Chuck wait!” Thomas tried to grab the boy's arm but Chuck seemed to be on a mission and barely acknowledged Thomas. Suddenly Thomas saw a flash of red out the corner of his eye and the door slammed shut with such force that it shattered the nearest window. Chuck and Thomas both jumped backwards and turned to look at Newt who looked horrified, his hand still held out. 

“I-I’m sorry” Newt squeaked quickly putting his hand down and holding it against his chest almost protectively. 

“How are we going to explain that?” Teresa gasped looking down at the shattered glass littering the floor. 

Before anyone could answer the sound of shouting and screaming could suddenly be heard coming from somewhere in the building. Thomas could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he backed away from the door, pulling Chuck with him.

“You guys don’t think…?” Frypan trailed off nervously, he didn’t need to finish his sentence Thomas knew what he meant.

“Aris” He whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those who consistently comment on this story it means a lot! Feli97, Thiff, AthenaTheGreekGoddess, Mieoak are just some of the names I see consistently and I try to reply as much as I can but sometimes I miss new comments so I just wanted to take this time to thank you all :)


	32. Panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is short and kind of rubbish.

“One thing. I ask you to do one thing, stay here and behave for not even an hour” Brenda seethed as she stepped over the broken glass to get into the room. Thomas and the others were gathered near the windows all frozen and looking guilt-ridden.

“Instead what do you do? Send your friend to spy on us and you smash the place up” She continued.

“It wasn’t like that! We didn’t mean to- '' Thomas began trying to desperately explain, Brenda held up her hand to cut him off. 

“We are trying to help you, the least you could have done is cooperated” 

“What happened?” Minho asked nervously, shrinking back slightly when Brenda’s glare landed on him. 

“Your friend is not as subtle as he thinks he is” She huffed. 

“Where is he?” Chuck asked as he nervously chewed on his nails from beside Thomas. Brenda sighed and looked away for a moment seeming hesitant.

“Brenda?” Minho called gently as he glanced nervously around the group.

“I’m sorry” She mumbled. “I was out-voted” She added before she stepped back towards the door and glanced at something down the corridor. She nodded. Suddenly Jorge entered the room with a group of men and women that Thomas didn’t recognise. They all wore a stern look, barely sparing a glance at the broken glass.

“The group has decided that it is best we keep you contained” Jorge spoke with a confident voice but Thomas watched as he hesitated before stepping forward.

“No! No you’re not locking us up we’ve only just escaped, please” Thomas was shocked to see that it was Minho who began panicking first, he stumbled backwards shaking his head.

“This is ridiculous! We’re not dangerous” Gally hissed as he stepped in front of the group, crossing his arms almost daring Jorge to step closer.

“We have a broken window that says otherwise” A woman spoke up stepping forward she had dark brown hair and brown eyes. “I’m sure you don’t mean to cause trouble but we have a group to protect, this is just a precaution” She continued.

“How long do you plan to keep us locked up?” Thomas asked gently pushing Newt behind him without a second thought.

“Just until we know these...abilities aren’t going to harm anyone, I assume you all have them?” The woman continued, no one said anything in reply.

“You can’t keep us locked up, you have no idea what we can do” Gally threatened.

“Gally! That's not helping!” Teresa hissed stepping forward and tugging on his arm before she looked out at the group. “Do you swear to let us go once we prove we’re not dangerous?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. 

“Yes, if you cooperate well and are not a danger to us then there is no reason why you can’t be accepted as part of this group” The woman continued speaking, seeming to have taken charge of the situation. Teresa squinted her eyes slightly at her before she looked at each member of the group.

“They’re being honest” Teresa then said looking back at her friends. 

“Are you sure?” Thomas asked her quietly, she nodded and Thomas sighed reaching down and taking Newts hand in his.

“Lets just cooperate, it's in our best interest” Thomas shrugged looking around at his friends.

“Thomas I-I can’t be locked up again, every time I’m locked up people mess with me or my ability, I can’t do it again” Minho looked uncharacteristically terrified.

“Minho” Brenda spoke in a gentle voice, taking a step forward causing Minho to back up even more until his back hit the wall. 

“It’s okay Minho, they’re not getting anywhere near us” Gally growled keeping his eyes trained on Brenda. “You can get yourself locked up Thomas but not all of us are going to follow like sheep”

“Nothing will happen to you, we just want to keep an eye on you” Brenda continued ignoring Gally's gaze and watching Minho. “I promise, I won’t let them touch you” She continued. 

Thomas looked back to watch Minho who seemed to only be half listening to Brenda as his eyes were trained on the open door. Thomas chewed his lip as he watched Minho’s thought process in what seemed like slow motion. The group seemed divided. Gally and Frypan were watching the group with a glare not ready to budge whilst Newt, Chuck and Teresa were all glancing nervously at Thomas.

“Minho don’t” He whispered but Minho didn’t seem to hear him.

“Don’t make us use force kid, we don’t want to do that” Jorge spoke up frowning at Minho. 

“I have to get out of here” Minho murmured and with that Jorge snapped into action.

“Restrain them” He ordered and before Thomas could respond suddenly the group charged forward and began grabbing at them.

“Let go of me!” Frypan shouted struggling to break free from a tall man's arms, Thomas was thankful he didn’t resort to using his ability. Minho, on the other hand, did. A blur flew past Thomas and headed for the door before anyone could react.

“Minho stop!” Brenda screamed but Minho was already out of sight. 

“Lock the building down” Jorge ordered. “You’ve forced my hand, I’m sorry” He added glancing at Thomas with a sorrowful look.

People began running in different directions, some trying to restrain Thomas and his friends whilst others headed out the door to begin locking down the building before Minho could leave. Thomas, Chuck and Teresa put up little fight and stood still willingly. Gally on the other hand was fighting back, it took three large men to pin Gally to the ground and even then he was still struggling. Newt was watching the door with a horrified look, he glanced at Thomas with a frown.

“We have to help Minho, he’s terrified” Newt said.

“Newt we have to cooperate please” Thomas almost begged, he didn't want them to have to forcefully restrain Newt.

Newt chewed his lip fighting between his trust in Thomas and his worry for Minho. Unfortunately the latter won and Newt made a break for the door. He didn't get very far as Jorge quickly grabbed him around his waist and lifted him up slightly off the ground. Newt struggled kicking out his legs trying to escape.

“Newt stop please!” Thomas shouted stepping forward to try and intervene. He felt himself get pulled backwards by a small hand.

“I just want to help Minho! Please!” Newt screamed continuing to struggle.

“Get off of him!” Gally almost roared from underneath the three men. He was pinned to the floor with his arms behind his back and the weight of three people on him but he continued to fight. 

“You’re hurting me!” Newt screamed trying to elbow Jorge. This broke Thomas and he began to struggle trying to get free. 

“Jorge enough! Let him go, he's just trying to help!” Thomas called out.

“QUIET!” A voice screamed, breaking through all the chaos. Thomas looked up to see Brenda standing on a bed looking down at them all, a mix of sorrow and anger on her face.

“Take them to our cells” She ordered, avoiding Thomas’s gaze as she did so. “We will find Minho and he will join you shortly” She then added. 

“You were supposed to help us!” Gally spat as he was hauled up off of the floor. 

“I am helping you, this is for the best I promise” Brenda replied quietly. 

Thomas and his friends were all dragged from the room, some struggling more than others. Thomas could only hope that Brenda was telling the truth and that Minho would be okay.


End file.
